Zafar

Scam Alert: Beware of Fraudulent Websites Impersonating Maryland Legal Aid and MVLS We're issuing an urgent alert regarding a deceptive scam targeting individuals seeking legal assistance in Maryland.

Seems like everything is a rip-off these days... But not civil legal aid. If you see a person or ad impersonating Maryland Legal Aid or Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service and offering services for a fee, please report it! www.msba.org/site/site/co...

Furloughed federal workers are protected from evictions, foreclosures in Maryland Government employees who have been involuntarily furloughed due to the federal shutdown can have evictions paused in Maryland, thanks to a state law passed after the last major funding lapse.

“Judges are required to stay proceedings if the tenant... appears in court and proves that they are a federal, state or local employee who is involuntarily furloughed due to a government shutdown.”
www.baltimoresun.com/2025/10/23/f...
By @baltimoresun.bsky.social’s @danbelson.bsky.social

Trump the Landlord Plans to Speed Up Evictions From Public Housing The Trump administration is pushing a rule change that would speed up the eviction process by providing tenants less notice.

Ending the 30-day eviction notice in fed-regulated properties "is a part of a larger push from corporate landlords who have lobbied the Trump administration to reduce eviction protections for tenants."

It's a public-private partnership for war on the poor.

Maryland legislators are already cranking up new proposals for 2026 to "stop squatters" -- such as a "peace order" style process to evict people on a moment's notice and worry about due process later.

Red States Are Suddenly Cracking Down on Squatters -- Despite No Evidence of a Crisis Several Republican states have recently passed anti-squatting bills that resemble model legislation pushed by the right-wing group ALEC.

"ALEC-aligned legislators... used the anti-squatter push in Texas to unsuccessfully advance a broad-based attack on the rights of tenants, and in Maryland, to successfully push back against Good Cause Eviction reforms."

Maryland has some explaining to do...

www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Our housing movement can learn a lot from the worker cooperative movement. And you could say fairly that they are one movement. We have to work outside the silos.

Maryland law now requires rescheduling of evictions during extreme (aka excessive) heat warnings. But Wednesday's scorcher is a heat advisory, meaning the heat index will reach only 105-109F instead of the requisite 110F.

Is it really progress that we're putting folks out at 105F?

Texas housing policy & wide empty spaces may result in more housing production for the mid-class but it falls just as short as blue states in affordable housing for those most impacted by the housing crisis who are left unprotected by Texas’ weak social safety net & landlord-tenant laws.

Corporate presentation receives applause. Overlaid text reads: The average Maryland renter's wage is now $22 per hour. They need $33 per hour to afford a one-bedroom apartment. They'll keep falling behind!

Read the 2025 Out of Reach report for Maryland. nlihc.org/sites/defaul...

Squatting in Maryland is not a crime epidemic — it's a housing crisis - Maryland Matters Recent news stories may indicate otherwise, but squatting is not an epidemic, writes Antoine Lovell, and it's not a crime: It's a sign of housing inequity that forces people to make desperate choices,...

Antoine Lovell at Morgan State U:
Maryland "needs an audacious, justice-based housing agenda that prioritizes that all individuals, no matter income levels, have a safe and secure place they can call home.

Squatting is not an epidemic. Inequity is the epidemic." 🔨

'Big Beautiful' $45B for detention centers could instead finance an estimated 163,600 new affordable apartments through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit.

It could prevent imminent eviction for between 9.8M and 16.6M households.

It could prevent around 59M utility shutoffs.

‪
The budget for ICE (not including all other parts of DHS) is now $55B.

'Big Beautiful' funding for detention centers alone is $45B.

How much for the housing crisis? The entire proposed FY26 HUD budget is $38B.

$0 to prevent evictions. $0 for community dev block grant.

If Realtors want more customers (i.e., young adults leaving the family home), they should lobby for those customers to have higher wages, universal healthcare, affordable childcare, and investment in public education.

Here's the real story:
For Baltimore, MD --
* Income Needed to Afford Rent, 04/2025: $75,158
* Change in Needed Income Since 04/2020: 29.6%

Did young Baltimore renters see 30% earnings increases over the past 5 yrs? This isn't even factoring new student debt policy and rising healthcare costs.

The Case for Moving Out: Why Adult Kids Still Living With Their Parents Should Get Their Own Place—Now Rents are falling for the first time in years, but millions of young adults aren’t moving out. Experts say the delay might be costing them.

This story gives terrible advice based on a 2.3% YOY dip in 1BR rents. Worse, the talking point of "see, rents are falling on their own" pops up in serious policy conversations. Reality is this: from 2020 to 05/2025 median rents rose 29% (43% for single-family homes) while renters' wages rose 23%.

YouTube video by The Gravel Institute How Socialists Solved The Housing Crisis

Happy Fourth of July

youtu.be/LVuCZMLeWko?...

Here's some data:
3,636 "wrongful detainer" cases filed vs. alleged squatters in 2024.

4,806 cases filed vs. renters bc their leases were non-renewed without cause.

For media & many MD legislators, only the first one reflects a crisis.

*Waiting for Sun stories on eviction w/out cause*... 7/7

We've also not heard any data on the supposed squatter crisis. Anecdotes, tweets & TV news clips, yes. But numbers? This is a rare instance in which bill proponents could not show the scope of the problem, still passed their bill on the first try & now seem to want to keep legislating the issue. 6/7

The Sun itself reported on the fraud against scammed would-be renters. Is a 2-3 week eviction process fair to them? We've heard nothing from Delegate Nawrocki, Senator Watson & other tough-on-squatter folks about how they want to address the revictimization caused by expedited evictions. 5/7

Is 4 weeks too long for due process in a busy court system? Note that judges could (and likely will) issue warrants within 2 days after trial & sheriffs could schedule these evictions the next day if they want (or if pressured to). SB46 could often look more like a 2-3 week eviction process. 4/7

The anti-squatter bill requires trial as early as 5 business days after filing in court & not more than 10. Let's assume it takes 10 biz days and also assume 5 days for issuance of a warrant and 1 week to schedule eviction, all of which are commonplace: That's eviction ~4 weeks after filing. 3/7

The Sun's estimate of 7 weeks for eviction under SB46 is actually the outer limit, likely extended by appeal or by a sheriff's delay. Appeals would be an exceedingly rare delay bc the 'squatter' must pay a cash bond to stop eviction while waiting for the appeal to be heard. 2/7

Maryland woman associated with squatter homes refuses interview During the past month, alleged unauthorized occupants, or squatters, in properties throughout the Baltimore region have repeatedly pointed Spotlight on Maryland to the Instagram account “nayo…

In April the Maryland General Assembly passed SB46 to expedite the eviction process for suspected squatters... The Sun reports: "Observers say the legislation... might still take at least seven weeks to reach a point where law enforcement can serve an eviction."

That's misleading. Here's why 🧵 1/7

Unlocking Housing Access: Why Tenant Screening Protections Matter Sponsored podcast: Learn how tenant screening protections can break down barriers for renters and protect fair access to housing for the most vulnerable.

Sponsored podcast: Learn how tenant screening protections can break down barriers for renters and protect fair access to housing for the most vulnerable.

nextcity.org/podcast/unlo...

Tenant vouchers will merge with Public Housing, Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), Section 202 Housing for the Elderly + Section 811
Housing for Persons with Disabilities into a $31.79B State Rental Assistance Block Grant program.

The prior administration funded tenant vouchers alone at $32B.

@nlihc.org‬ has the analysis of the Administration's federal housing budget. It sounds the alarm. 🚨 nlihc.org/sites/defaul...

The headline is a 43% ($26.72 billion) funding cut for HUD rental assistance programs. The details are nerve-racking:

“The Federal Government Is Gone”: Under Trump, the Fight Against Extremist Violence Is Left Up to the States As the White House redirects counterterrorism personnel and funds toward mass deportations, a state-level scramble is on to preserve efforts once supported by Washington. The result is a patchwork app...

5. “The Federal Government Is Gone”: Under Trump, the Fight Against Extremist Violence Is Left Up to the States www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Shays’ Rebellion Explained: A New Governing System for the New US | TheCollector The early United States suffered from a weak economy and lack of central authority. In 1786, a rebellion almost destroyed the fledgling republic and led to the US Constitution.

3. We did the math on AI’s energy footprint. Here’s the story you haven’t heard.
www.technologyreview.com/2025/05/20/1...

4. Shays’ Rebellion Explained: A New Governing System for the New US www.thecollector.com/shays-rebell...

The Trump Administration Wants to Create an ‘Office of Remigration’ to Kick Immigrants Out of the Country "Remigration"—a far-right European plan to expel minorities and immigrants from Western nations—may soon have a dedicated office following a Trump administration reorganization of the State Department...

Sunday reading list ... 5 articles from my bsky follows:

1. The Trump Administration Wants to Create an ‘Office of Remigration’ www.wired.com/story/trump-...

2. Why Are Black Neighborhoods Underwater? Science Points to the Wealthy. capitalbnews.org/richest-10-p...