MAAPL was formed in 2007 by grassroots activists from City Life/Vida Urbana, ACORN, and the Green-Rainbow Party, joined by Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner and several first-time homeowner advocates – each with decades of organizing experience. In its first year, MAAPL brought together almost 60 grassroots advocacy, political, labor, legal, financial and other organizations, and substantially raised the awareness of foreclosure threats at the community, municipal and state level by focusing on taking direct action to impact the biggest predatory lenders.
In 2008, MAAPL instituted a multi-pronged approach to pressure lenders into undoing the harmful effects of their predatory lending practices. As the number of foreclosures on “standard” mortgages from over-inflated housing prices rose and those resulting from predatory lending practices fell, MAAPL widened its scope to respond to the changing foreclosure demographics. It is now a broad alliance of unions, peace groups, advocacy, community organizing, legal and real estate organizations representing over 600,000 people.
In 2010, MAAPL helped pass post-foreclosure tenant protections unanimously in both Massachusetts legislative houses. Working together, our grassroots groups (with a nationally-recognized organizing model), legal, and Boston refinancing resources have organized thousands of Massachusetts residents and protected and repurchased hundreds of homes. MAAPL helped Springfield, MA pass a cutting-edge foreclosing properties ordinance and the state’s first pre-foreclosure mandatory mediation ordinance. And most recently, MAAPL worked hard to retain important homeowner protections in H.4087 “An Act to prevent unlawful and unnecessary foreclosures” in May 2012, with the support of several legislators and MA Attorney General Martha Coakley.
MAAPL will continue to take action to address the causes of the foreclosure crisis, pursue legislative action to protect homeowners and tenants, educate Massachusetts residents about their rights and the resources available to them to fight foreclosure/eviction, research and publish reports on the impact of the foreclosure crisis in the Commonwealth, and support its member organizations in their efforts to keep Massachusetts families in their homes and strengthen our neighborhoods and communities.