VICTORY: Fairlawn Tenant Association Wins Rent Control for 347 Homes in Mattapan!

Huge news! After SIX YEARS of fiercely fighting large rent increases and eviction filings by DSF Group, Fairlawn tenants win permanently affordable homes for the whole Fairlawn community

The CLVU community celebrating the Fairlawn TA’s victory on Monday! Photo by Kathleen Guytingco

The CLVU community congratulates Fairlawn tenant leaders on their incredible VICTORY! After six years of tenant organizing and struggling against huge rent increases and displacement by a corporate investment group, Fairlawn tenant leaders have WON RENT CONTROL AND PERMANENT AFFORDABILITY FOR ALL 347 UNITS AT FAIRLAWN ESTATES in Mattapan! This happened because of the leadership of Miss Annie, Miss Betty, Manny and other tenant leaders at Fairlawn since 2018. In the coming weeks, Fairlawn tenant leaders will share more of their story here on The CLVU Bulletin. In the meantime, we want to update you all in the CLVU community on this historic victory.

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Maggie of Greater Boston Legal Services; Ronel, Wilner, Gabrielle of CLVU; Betty, Annie, Margaret of Fairlawn TA

On Monday, at a big celebration, The Fairlawn Tenant Association (TA), alongside City Life/Vida Urbana and the City of Boston, announced that all 347 units at Fairlawn Estates will be converted from market-rate housing to permanently affordable homes for current and future residents.

This announcement is the direct result of six years of resistance by Fairlawn residents: in 2018, following the opening of a long-awaited commuter rail stop across from the apartment complex, national corporate investor DSF Group bought the building, rebranded it “SoMa at the T”, and immediately imposed rent increases of hundreds of dollars on longtime tenants, many of whom were elderly Black women, moms and families. While some tenants moved out due to the pressure by DSF, others resisted tirelessly through public letters, protest, in court, and by sharing their stories with the media. Now, these tenants’ unwavering commitment is rewarded with affordable housing for the entire Fairlawn community, an investment that will reshape the future of Fairlawn and of Mattapan.

Watch Miss Annie, Miss Betty and Gabrielle speak to the crowd in the full video recorded by the City of Boston above!

Fairlawn tenant leaders see the six-year Fairlawn struggle as another example of why residents of Boston and Massachusetts need rent stabilization and the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) as tools to prevent displacement and unaffordable rent increases. If apartments in Boston were rent-stabilized, DSF would not have purchased Fairlawn Estates with the intention of drastically increasing rents for current residents. And if TOPA legislation was in place, Fairlawn residents could have worked with a nonprofit to buy the building in 2018, rather than DSF buying it. Both of these tools would have prevented years of intense stress and physical and mental hardship for Fairlawn residents.

Annie Gordon, 74, of the Fairlawn TA, is one of the Mattapan community members who long advocated for the commuter rail stop in the neighborhood. After DSF bought Fairlawn in 2018 and tried to raise Annie’s rent by hundreds of dollars, she helped start the Fairlawn Tenant Association. On Monday, Annie spoke to the crowd:

“We came together as neighbors to form a tenant association, and organized together to stay in our homes. Now, we can proudly say that our tenant organizing resulted in a major victory – we are able to stay in our homes, and now 347 units in Mattapan are permanently affordable and rent-controlled. We want this to be a lesson to people like us across the city: when we fight, we win!”

Annie, Manny and Betty of the Fairlawn TA interviewed prepared for the celebration announcement by preparing their remarks and speaking with the press.

Knowing that tenants in other buildings in Mattapan and across the state are going through similar struggles, Annie vows to continue fighting for others by advocating for policies to prevent displacement: “We know communities like Mattapan should be able to have and use amenities like the commuter rail without getting pushed out of our homes.” Prior to 1994, Annie and her neighbors had housing stability in their homes at Fairlawn because of rent control. Ever since the 1994 rent control ban, she and her neighbors had been facing unaffordable rent increases by multiple corporate landlords, and many of her neighbors were displaced. She was one of the many Fairlawn residents who organized for decades for transportation improvements to the neighborhood, which resulted in the Fairmont Line.

“Our organizing as the Fairlawn Tenants Association over the last six years has resulted in permanent housing stability for hundreds of families at the largest unsubsidized apartment complex in Mattapan, but we know this is not enough:We need rent control and TOPA to ensure that all families in Boston and across the state can have the housing stability that Fairlawn residents will now be able to have.” — Annie of the Fairlawn TA

Margaret, Annie and Betty of Fairlawn TA.

To make Fairlawn into permanently affordable homes, the City of Boston is investing $10 million from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). This investment is part of the City’s Acquisition Opportunity Program (AOP), which also supported another recent tenant organizing victory with 364 Harvard Street in Dorchester.

Fairlawn TA leaders Annie and Betty have also shown up for other tenants and small homeowners facing displacement throughout the years. Thank you for your leadership and solidarity, Annie, Betty and Fairlawn tenants! We can’t wait to keep celebrating this victory as a community and continuing the work for rent control and homes for everyone in Massachusetts.

Leave a comment to say congrats to the Fairlawn Tenant Association! Subscribe to The CLVU Bulletin to receive reflections from the Fairlawn tenant leaders and more from the struggle and victory next week.