Legal Lessons in Love and Resistance: From Evictions to Equality in Boston

TJ King

A person’s youth can often be utilized to discount their thoughts, ideas, or aspirations. I think we all have experienced a point in our more young and vulnerable days (for me those days are right now)

where our serious thoughts were somewhat disregarded on account of age. I think this naturally creates more hesitation in younger people when they want to express their thoughts. However, when this hesitation is disregarded, the public often bears witness to some of the most impactful and positive changes in the world. When young people stand up and organize, there is a certain fire and passion that seems to be lost as we grow old. To help illustrate the point I am trying to make, I would like to draw your attention to the capital city of education- (and my hometown) Boston.  

Boston is home to world renown schools such as Harvard, MIT, Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern, Tufts, and many more. These schools all have esteemed law programs (with Harvard Law ranked the best in the world) that contain some of the brightest young minds in the world. The impact of these law schools at both a global and local level is something to be admired and appreciated- as it stands as a true testimony to the power of knowledge and youth. 

The first topic I want to cover is something that is an extreme issue in America and most urban environments across the globe. The cost of housing in cities is absurd- and Boston is one of the worst cases in the world. The average cost of a house in Boston is currently $748,243. Up 4.4% from last year $748,243 is around £581,000. The first thing you think is probably how extremely impractical that price is for working-class people. But what may not have come to mind is those working-class people who have lived in Boston for generations in low-income housing.

 As the price of homes rise in Boston, corporations and real-estate development companies look to capitalise on the lucrative market. Landlords look to evict lifelong tenants who cannot keep up with increasing wild rent prices.

According to research, investors who recently acquired properties in the Greater Boston area have raised rent by as much as 70 percent. The influx of investors trying to use their expensive legal teams to acquire housing to renovate and rent leaves more working-class people on the street each day. With the threshold of accessing law being so difficult in a metropolitan area- renters are often left confused and unaware of their rights when landlords come knocking at their telling them to leave. That is where Harvard Law’s Project No One Leaves (PNOL) comes in. PNOL is a student-run organization that collaborates with local community groups to empower residents facing foreclosure or eviction. Students involved in PNOL engage in door-to-door canvassing, informing residents of their legal rights and connecting them with resources to resist displacement. This effort to help strangers being impacted by an unfair housing crisis from local students displays how law goes deeper than a Pro-Bono page on a firm’s website. Law can be used to protect people from those who want to deprive tenants of a home all so they can go on a more expensive vacation. Law can change lives and keep people in their childhood home- but people often have no idea what rights they have. Harvard’s PNOL, Boston College’s Initiative on Land, Housing & Property Rights, and Boston University’s Housing, Organizing, & Movement Empowerment Society all serve to protect those in the community from the current housing crisis. The unification of multiple universities in aspiration to use the law to protect those at risk from being taken advantage of by corporations displays how law and the community serves as a testament to the power of the law and how it can be used to show love for your neighbor.  

Boston has always been known in the US and among the world as a champion of LBTQIA+ rights. Boston had one of the nation’s first pride marches in 1971, and the elected the first openly gay state representative in the US. Boston was the first state to proudly legalize gay marriage in 2003 under the landmark case Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. The city has always been an advocate for rights of those on the margins of society, and university life is no different. The Boston Alliance of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth (BAGLY) is a youth led organization across Boston that focuses on education and training LGBTQIA+ youth in organizing, public speaking, and public activism. Through the law, they have helped push local and state policies around healthcare access, gender-affirming services, and housing justice. BAGLY is supported by a diverse body of people, including local LGBTQIA+ societies at law schools like Lambda at Harvard and OutLaw at Boston University. These societies  organize and sponsor conferences, network with national LGBTQ rights leaders, and connect students with LGBTQ-related academic opportunities. In addition to internal LBTQIA+ assistance at law schools, these societies utilize outreach programs to encourage youth to advocate for their identity through the law and defend themselves against political abuse through lawsuits and knowing their rights. The youth resources that Boston and its universities have for those in the LGBTQIA+ community displays how people's passion to fight for their shared individual expression directly correlates with the practice of law.  

I hope this article inspired you to consider all the good that local law students can do for a community, and how even across the Atlantic there is always someone trying to fight for those who are being taken advantage of. Thank you for reading and learning a bit about how young law students impact my city- a place I am proud to call home.