Tenant Advocacy Project students build awareness for new eviction record sealing initiative

In the Tenant Advocacy Project (TAP), housing justice for local tenants is the goal. That pathway begins with removing barriers that prevent people from accessing stable housing, according to Sarah Berton ‘25 and AJ Williamson ‘26. As leaders of TAP’s Policy Team, their latest effort focuses on building community awareness about a new Massachusetts housing bill that includes provisions for sealing eviction records—a change that could transform housing access for vulnerable populations throughout the state. 

Understanding the bill

The groundbreaking Massachusetts housing bill going into effect on May 5 includes provisions for sealing eviction records—a critical barrier to housing access for many individuals. 

“Massachusetts passed a very big housing package that included a lot of different provisions that are great for housing access in the state,” Williamson explains. “Eviction sealing is one important part.” 

The provision addresses a significant problem in the housing system. “When someone is evicted, there is a record of that eviction in the court system, and that record is freely available to the public and can prevent that person from finding housing again,” says Williamson. “There are lots of problems in those records. Sometimes they don’t accurately state the disposition of the case, or even when they do, they’re often missing really important context.” 

The consequences can be severe even for those who successfully fight eviction proceedings. “Even when we win a case for our client, there’s often still an eviction record for them that can prevent them from getting housing in the future,” Williamson notes. 

This new legislation creates a pathway to freedom from past housing difficulties. “This bill allows the people who have had an eviction on their record to petition for that record to be sealed,” explains Williamson. 

While TAP’s work often focuses on representing public housing tenants and voucher recipients in termination hearings rather than eviction defense, Berton emphasizes the direct connection to their clients’ experiences. 

“A lot of times, the reason for termination is connected in some way to an eviction, whether they were evicted by their latest private landlord, whether they have an eviction in the past, or whether they’re going through eviction proceedings,” Berton explains. “That can trigger the voucher administrator to terminate or propose termination of a voucher.” 

Over her three years as a member of TAP, Berton has seen firsthand the need for this legislation. “Even when we’re successful in preserving someone’s voucher, which is huge… many times they keep the voucher, but they’ve been evicted, so they need to find new housing. They have a voucher, but they are looking for housing and still can’t access it because of the eviction on their record.” 

“I saw this with my own client,” she adds. “We were proud that we were able to preserve the voucher. We stayed in touch, and it was months before she could find housing because of the eviction on her record.” 

The bill represents an opportunity to address broaden the reach of TAP’s advocacy work. “While this work is a little bit different from the hearings we normally do, we see this as a way to be involved in something that has a direct impact on a large proportion of our clients and is a big deal statewide,” says Berton. “It really will transform people’s access to housing.” 

The legislation also represents a pioneering effort in tenant rights, with potential impact extending beyond Massachusetts. “We hope that the implementation of this bill will go really well, and that Massachusetts can serve as a model for other states who are considering this type of legislation,” Williamson says. “This is a really powerful tool for tenants and their advocates, so if everything goes well in implementation here, then this could be a nationwide model for how this type of legislation might work.” 

Creating public education resources

This spring, the TAP Policy Team focused their efforts on creating a comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) resource in partnership with Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) to ensure tenants are aware of and can access the benefits of this new legislation. The FAQs are available to provide guidance for individuals navigating what is an entirely novel system. 

“Our first priority was gaining an understanding of the bill ourselves so that we could develop the frequently asked questions that will be publicized widely for tenants,” explains Berton. 

The team aimed to “strike the right balance between communicating accurately about the bill’s contents, but in a way that is simple enough for everybody to understand,” says Williamson.  

As the team began digging into the legalities, this proved to be no easy task.  

“We expected it to be challenging to translate technical legal language into plain language in a way that is both accurate to the law but also clear and understandable for non-lawyers trying to understand how it works, but we did not anticipate how careful our language choices had to be,” says Williamson.  

There was also uncertainty inherent in demystifying a process that had not yet gotten underway. “The program hadn’t launched, so there are things that we won’t really know the answers to until people have tried to seal their evictions and run into certain roadblocks or navigated them, or seen how the courts are dealing with these, or seen how landlords are responding,” Berton adds.  

Still, TAP’s involvement at this stage meant that the student attorneys had a hand in developing the systems that will be used in the eviction sealing process. The team was some of the first to view the preliminary electronic filing system, through which tenants with straightforward situations may be able to file entirely online, and provide feedback to its developers.  

In line with TAP’s focus on building connections in the local community, this work was collaborative, with TAP serving as part of a larger coalition. TAP students worked closely with the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) and attorneys from Greater Boston Legal Services (GBLS), who spearheaded the passage of this bill and are invested in making sure that it has an effective implementation.  

Over the course of many rounds of edits with MRLI and GBLS attorneys, TAP students would read each new section of the FAQs with fresh eyes, devise questions they might have as a tenant navigating the system, and point out areas that could have more clarity or detail. Berton and Williamson would have hours-long Zoom conversations, homing in on the best word choices for the clearest answers, then asking the housing attorneys for their review.  

“Getting to work with attorneys who have deep experience on the ground in handling eviction cases, understanding how the details of this law will interact with the actual experiences of tenants who have gone through this process, was hugely helpful in figuring out how to graph the language in a way that will actually be functional for people,” says Williamson. 

With the bill going into effect this week, the FAQs are now available on MLRI’s website, masslegalhelp.org.  

Finding purpose

Now leaders in TAP, Berton and Williamson were once 1Ls striving to find their community and purpose on campus. Both were drawn to TAP by a shared interest in providing direct client services, particularly in housing justice. 

For Berton, TAP represented a connection to a pre-existing passion. “I actually had heard of TAP before I decided to come to HLS,” she explains. “I had this vision that I wanted to be in TAP and get involved with pro bono opportunities starting in my 1L year.” 

“I came to HLS not being 100% sure of what I wanted to do, but being generally interested in direct client services work and specifically interested in housing,” says Williamson. “TAP provided a really good opportunity to deepen my engagement with both of those interests.” 

One aspect that attracted Williamson to the organization was that “TAP is one of the only Student Practice Organizations that allows you to take a case as a first semester 1L. There’s an opportunity to get really good hands-on experience right out of the gate.” 

What began as initial interest evolved into a deeper commitment for both students, who have TAP’s Policy Team for the 2024-25 academic year. “I don’t think I expected that I would stay as involved in TAP as I have,” Berton reflects, “but once I got on campus and joined, I found that it was such a meaningful community for me on campus of public interest-minded people, and that the work was some of my favorite work that I’ve done in law school.” 

The eviction sealing project provided a particularly unique learning opportunity for a law student, says Berton. “AJ and I had the chance to have more of a project management role with this project, and that was a rare and valuable experience. We were treated like valuable voices at the center of this project by the community partners and attorneys in the Boston area. Working in partnership with them, as colleagues and trusted partners, was so valuable.” 

Looking ahead, students interested in this work can join TAP during its fall recruitment. For current TAP members, the eviction sealing project offers flexible involvement opportunities. “We’ve got a team of about 12 people, in addition to Sarah and myself, who are working on this,” notes Williamson. “It’s really flexible to accommodate the level of involvement that people are able to bring to the table.” 

As this new initiative takes shape, Berton and Williamson’s work represents a bridge between individual advocacy and systemic change—a connection that could transform housing access for vulnerable populations throughout Massachusetts and potentially provide a model for nationwide reform. 

The press release announcing the effective date of the new law can be found here.