Housing justice that meets the moment

Renters in Massachusetts face myriad challenges on a good day: rising rent prices, a shortage of affordable units available, and tensions with landlords are just a few common examples. Tenants in even more difficult situations can be left feeling overwhelmed and powerless—they can be evicted if the landlord decides they want the property for business reasons; security deposits are often withheld illegally without tenants having knowledge that they are entitled to get it back—and with the accrued interest, no less. Any of these situations can be stress-inducing for tenants, but even worse, they have the potential to create barriers to the tenant finding their next home.  

For over forty years, students in Harvard Law’s Tenant Advocacy Project (TAP) have strived to advance housing justice in greater Boston, representing public housing tenants and rental assistance voucher recipients and applicants in administrative hearings. This fall, TAP students will expand their practice into two new areas—eviction record sealing and security deposit recovery—in response to an evolving housing law landscape and in an effort to reach more tenants in need.  

Gary Allen, senior clinical instructor at TAP, describes the student practice organization’s expansion as a natural evolution for an organization that has empowered and advocated for the community since the 1980s. The new practice areas will give first-year law students direct representation experience and an opportunity to be some of the first legal advocates practicing in a new area of state housing law, all while addressing unmet legal needs of the same clients TAP has been serving for decades. 

“TAP’s mission has always been housing justice and housing stability,” says Allen. “Access and stability are our touchstones, and we want to do everything we can do to advance those causes.” 

Securing tenants’ futures through eviction record sealing 

Massachusetts’ current housing shortage has created a chronic and unbalanced market favoring landlords, leaving tenants with limited options and leverage, and vulnerable to unfair practices. A landmark state legislation package, the Affordable Homes Act, was signed into law in August 2024 to address some of the barriers that prevent tenants from living in safe and stable housing. The legislation includes new provisions for sealing eviction records—an opportunity for many tenants previously involved in eviction actions to mitigate the burden of public court records that can be a significant barrier to securing housing.  

When Allen and the TAP students got word that the new eviction sealing process would be part of the Affordable Homes Act, they jumped into action. In partnership with the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI), a team of 12 students led by Sarah Berton ‘25 and AJ Williamson ‘26 created the state’s comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions resource for tenants navigating the new system to have their eviction records sealed. The team’s work was instrumental in ensuring that the rollout of the new law, including outreach, messaging, and accessibility, was ready to go statewide in May 2025.  

The new record sealing law addresses a fundamental barrier to housing access. “People are being denied housing just because landlords can learn that they’ve been involved in an eviction case, whether it had merit or not, and that is a clear and unfair barrier,” Allen says. 

Early data suggests significant demand for eviction sealing relief. “In the first four months since the law became effective, about 1,200 people statewide have petitioned for eviction sealing,” Allen reports. “We think that’s only the tip of the iceberg.”   

TAP students are uniquely positioned to help individuals navigate the new system, having been a foundational part of its implementation. “The students have a deeper understanding of the law and can help individuals without legal training to navigate it,” Allen adds. “When clients ask, ‘How do I know when my appeals period has passed?’ Or ‘How do I know if I had a fault eviction or a no-fault eviction?’ We’ll be able to explain those distinctions, to help people better document their cases so that their petitions are successfully approved by the court.”  

The eviction record sealing process can rely on both automated and personalized elements. “One option is an online, guided interview that people can do with or without our assistance, where they answer interview-style questions similar to when you’re filling out your income taxes online,” Allen explains. TAP students will conduct phone interviews, help clients fill out and file the forms, and if the client needs to appear in court, will explain what questions may come up at a hearing.  

The novel area of housing law has a direct and material connection to TAP’s mission of housing justice. “Marginalized communities, particularly people that have had bad experiences with the court system or people who have trouble with language access, will benefit from having our resources available,” says Allen. “In most cases, our members will clearly understand the law and understand the different hurdles that get in the way or come up while people are preparing their sealing paperwork. We’re going to get them past those hurdles so that their petition is successful.” 

Asserting tenants’ rights to recover their security deposits 

For many tenants, the loss of a security deposit is devastating. A month’s rent is a significant financial investment—one that could be reinvested into their next home. Having a previous security deposit returned at the end of a lease makes for one less thing to worry about amidst the stressful and expensive moving process.  

Landlords often attempt to retain security deposits based on technicalities, such as “reasonable wear and tear” to the unit. However, tenants in Massachusetts may not realize the extent of their rights to the return of their security deposits. TAP’s expansion into security deposit recovery work will ensure that more communities are aware of their rights and that more clients have their day in court.  

The decision to add security deposit work to TAP’s practice emerged from a test case in spring of 2023 led by Liana Wang ’26 and Sophie Li ’26.  Allen describes the pilot case as “seeking other ways to give the students perspectives and skills development in an important area of law that affects so many people in Massachusetts.” Security deposit recovery presents complex legal and factual challenges that vary significantly depending on when clients seek assistance and both how and why the landlord has held the money.  For example, in Massachusetts, landlords must hold the deposit in an interest-bearing account separate from the landlord’s other funds, within the state, and provide their tenant with a receipt detailing that information. Procedural violations by landlords often provide grounds for recovery, and the financial stakes can be high—in some cases, the landlords are liable for three times the amount of the deposit if it was improperly held or retained after the tenancy ends. 

“A lot of times landlords aren’t holding it properly in the first place, maybe they didn’t put it in the right kind of bank account or give the tenant the necessary receipts at the start of the tenancy,” Allen says.  

“We have a pretty clear sense that landlords are more likely to withhold security deposits when they expect they may not get sued, and so empowering people with representation as well as with knowledge about what their rights are, will hopefully encourage people to take a more proactive stance in asserting their rights to recover their security deposits,” he adds. 

TAP’s pilot case eventually settled, but not before the student team worked diligently for weeks to prepare for a trial in small claims court. “We only had about six weeks to go from zero training to coming to court for a trial, and the students nonetheless loved it,” Allen recalls. “Students came back and reported to the membership how much they loved it, and that got the membership really excited about this idea for expansion.” 

Small claims court is the perfect place to begin gaining valuable courtroom representation experience, Allen says: “The rules for the small claims court allow non-lawyers to help people with their cases. There is no certainty that you’re going to have a judge, and in most cases you don’t, you have a Clerk Magistrate. It’s not quite the same rigor as going to court with a judge. The rules of evidence are a little bit different, and there’s more of a relaxed accessibility, because small claims court is intended to accommodate people without legal training. That’s a great environment for law students to take their first steps as an advocate for someone else in need. ” 

Allen emphasizes that these trials offer a more accessible introduction to courtroom practice than traditional judicial proceedings. For students looking to dip a toe into courtroom practice, taking on a security deposit recovery with TAP might be just the experience they’re looking for. 

In community, serving the community  

For returning and new TAP students, the new practice areas will allow them to expand their portfolio of housing justice work while gaining meaningful experience by representing clients as early as 1L year. The opportunity is made possible not only by Allen, but by TAP’s more experienced students who will share their knowledge and experiences with the new cohort of student attorneys.  

As those who helped develop the playbook on the new eviction record sealing law, TAP’s veteran students will offer comprehensive training on the topic to new students. Even still, the nature of working in a new area of the law is an opportunity to gain experience in statutory interpretation, a fundamental legal skill. While Massachusetts residents make their way through the novel system, Allen anticipates that unexpected challenges will arise which will have practical implications for advocacy. TAP’s involvement in the early days of the process will ensure that tenants’ rights are front of mind as the challenges are ironed out case-by-case. 

Both new practice areas will expand TAP’s efforts beyond its traditional client services. “Because of the name of our organization, the Tenant Advocacy Project, we have gotten so many phone calls from people who have issues outside what we have done traditionally, and we have typically referred those out to other agencies,” Allen explains. “A lot of calls that we previously referred out, we will now be able to handle because of the systemic training that we will do for all students, preparing them to talk about what a security deposit case might look like and what your rights are,” Allen explains. They will also be able to assist clients who may have come to TAP with a separate need to seal their eviction records.  

“Anything TAP can do to make it easier for tenants to lease up in new apartments is a benefit to the community,” Allen says. The organization plans to assess demand and refine its approach as the new practice areas develop. In the meantime, both eviction record sealing and security deposit recovery work represent responses to immediate community needs that TAP students can address as soon as they step on campus.  

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Students interested in joining TAP in 2025-2026 can hear more about the student practice organization at the SPO Panel on Sunday, September 7, 10:30-11:30 am in Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall 200 or at the Student Activities Fair taking place after the panel discussion. TAP’s application process will take place in mid-September, and the deadline to apply will be September 26, 2025.  For more information, send a note to tap@law.harvard.edu.