The FHCGB maintains membership in six coalitions that promote fair housing and fair lending as a part of their organizational missions. These organizations are;
Action for Regional Equity
Boston Tenant Coalition
Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending
Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance
Massachusetts State-wide Fair Housing Coalition
Fair Housing Network.

ACTION FOR REGIONAL EQUITY

Action For Regional Equity is a coalition of numerous organizations working towards regional solutions to housing, transportation, economic development, jobs, health care and environmental issues. ACTION members are: Alternatives for Community and the Environment, the Asian Community Development Corporation, the Boston Tenant Coalition, Chinese Progressive Association, City Life/Vida Urbana, Conservation Law Foundation, Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston, Greater Four Corners Action Coalition, Somerville Community Corporation, the Tri-City Community Action Program, and Citizens’Housing and Planning Association.

BOSTON TENANT COALITION

The Boston Tenant Coalition is a coalition of 16 grassroots tenant neighborhood groups, community development corporations, and homeless and advocacy organizations that promote affordable housing in Boston, organize to defend and expand the rights of tenants, and encourage city, state and federal government, as well as private industry, to address the needs of low-income tenants. They operate from a core belief that more affordable housing needs to be both permanent and targeted to Boston’s low-income populations. The BTC is working in collaboration with others to establish new policies against the displacement of tenants and owners due to foreclosure, and to try to capture foreclosed units for affordable housing. A major policy initiative of the Boston Tenant Coalition is to amend and update the City of Boston’s Inclusionary Housing Policy, first adopted in 2006 and the Linkage Program. By updating these policies the BTC hopes to create more affordable housing for low- and moderate-income people throughout the City of Boston. The current members of the BTC are:

Allston-Brighton Community Development Corporation, Alternatives for Community & the Environment, Boston Urban Asthma Coalition, Chinese Progressive Association, City Life / Vida Urbana, Committee for Boston Public Housing, Disabled Peoples Liberation Front, Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston, Fenway Community Development Corporation, Homes for Families, Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, Massachusetts Senior Action Council (MASC), Nuestra Comunidad, South Boston Families Advocating for Neighborhood Strength and the Southwest Boston CDC.

MASSACHUSETTS ALLIANCE AGAINST PREDATORY LENDING

The Mass Alliance against Predatory Lending (MAAPL) consists of over 60 member organizations, as well as a number of endorsing organizations. Among the member organizations are housing counseling agencies, legal services groups, social service agencies, and community-based social action groups. All have come together to work on the foreclosure crisis in Massachusetts, which has a major impact on our protected classes. The work of MAAPL focuses on:

• Legislative initiatives: including judicial foreclosure, mandatory mediation, just-cause eviction post-foreclosure, and other pre- and post-foreclosure protections for tenants and homeowners;

• Organizing to prevent eviction of tenants and resident homeowners who are paying their rents in foreclosed properties;

• Providing education to homeowners and tenants regarding their rights, as well as educating the general public regarding the predatory and discriminatory practices of lenders and financial institutions;

• Working to ensure that foreclosed properties can be acquired as affordable housing by non-profits and other entities.

SMART GROWTH ALLIANCE (Great Neighborhoods and Public Policy)

Founded in 2003 by seven leading Massachusetts-based policy organizations (including the Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston), the Massachusetts Smart Growth Alliance (MSGA) works to improve the state’s development policies in order to build welcoming communities with a high quality of life. Our objectives include the promotion of healthy and diverse communities, the protection of critical environmental resources and working landscapes, the creation of housing and transportation choices, and equitable community development and urban reinvestment. The FHCGB will work with the MSGA to achieve these goals and serve as the “equity” lens and evaluator to assist with analyzing impediments to fair housing and equal opportunity.

MASS. STATE-WIDE FAIR HOUSING COALITION:

This is a coalition of fair housing groups from various parts of Massachusetts and includes both FHIP’s and FHAP organizations. Until 2014 it met very seldom but is now back on a regular schedule with meetings every 3 months. For now it will provide an exchange of information and current trends but coordination of joint policy work is a real possibility.

FAIR HOUSING NETWORK

Fair Housing Network was founded by the FHCGB in October of 2013. The Network is a collaboration between the FHCGB, various municipalities and community-based organizations. The Fair Housing network has three specific goals. . First, allow us to share information vital to our work and discuss best practices for its utilization. Second, use our collective energies to identify patterns of discriminatory behavior that go beyond individual cities and towns and develop systemic approaches to resolving them. Third provide us a more efficient platform from which to address important public policy issues and insure that fair housing and equity concerns are an integral part of all urban development policies at the local and state level. The Network’s current public policy initiative is to pass legislation making survivors of domestic violence a protected class under the Mass. civil rights law (MGL. 151 B) and to pass legislation upgrading the state’s Lead Paint law to make it easier for property owners to de-lead.