As Cambridge Works to Improve Tenant Legal Protections, City Staff Raise Communication Concerns

As the City of Cambridge — where two-thirds of residents are tenants — works to increase legal protections for low-income tenants, city staff said the city has struggled to relay information about tenants’ rights to landlords.

Cambridge City Council is currently weighing amendments proposed by the city’s Law Department to the 2020 Tenant’s Rights Ordinance which would require the City to send landlords an annual notice to ensure compliance with the ordinance.

But both councilors and city staff agreed that the city needs to do more to reach landlords with information about their legal obligations under the ordinance, which requires landlords to notify tenants of city resources at the beginning of their tenancy and at eviction.

One concern, Pensak said, was ensuring the compliance of small and private landlords who may be less responsive or harder to reach.

“There is no central registry, and so we do not know everyone who is a small landlord,” Pensak said, adding that she was confident that “all of the major property management companies” were aware of their legal obligations.

Pensak said that the Office of the Housing Liaison has utilized “various city communications” and translates materials into languages most commonly used in Cambridge. Pensak also stressed the importance of a “multi-pronged approach” in reaching all residents — tenants and landlords alike.

“We absolutely feel like we should be doing more of that and plan on doing that,” Pensak said.

The discussion comes after the Council passed a policy order asking City Manager Yi-An Huang ’05 to increase legal support for tenants citywide.

Councilor Sumbul Siddiqui said she was concerned that the city was turning away tenants who sought out legal representation for eviction cases, citing the low proportion of tenants who receive counsel in court.

But city staff present at the meeting said that the city refers all tenants who seek help to either the De Novo Center for Justice and Healing or Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services, which both receive funding from the City to represent and consult clients. If neither organization has capacity, Pensak wrote in an email, tenants are referred to a host of other organizations.

“We don’t not talk with anyone, we accept everyone,” Pensak told the Council on Monday.

“Sometimes the case does not have merit where we can either provide the resources in terms of financial resources or something else, but at all times, we try to negotiate with landlords and address the situation, and work with both the tenant and the landlord,” Pensak added.

—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart or on Threads @laurel.shugart.