Eviction: A story of displacement

About one-third of the US household population lives in rented housing. Among the housing disputes that occur between tenants and landlords, the removal of tenants from their property – that is, their displacement – by landlords through evictions poses one of the greatest threats to housing stability. The prevalence and high stakes of eviction elevate the importance of examining this phenomenon and the efficacy of various interventions, such as financial assistance, legal representation, and mediation

A Study for the Design and Administration of a Successful Foreclosure Mediation Program in Massachusetts

This study examines foreclosure mediation programs and legislation in ten jurisdictions across the nation as well as relevant research and scholarship in the field in order to capture best practices and lessons learned to inform the authorization and design of effective foreclosure mediation programming for Massachusetts. The lens for the examination is the need for foreclosure mediation in Massachusetts and the statutory and programmatic frameworks necessary for the design and implementation of a successful foreclosure mediation program. The study provides an account of how Massachusetts is dealing with residential foreclosures at present and the ways mediation can contribute to resolving foreclosure disputes

Massachusetts Community Mediation Center Grant Program: Fiscal Year 2014 Report & Evaluation

The Community Mediation Center Grant Program, funded by the commonwealth and administered by the state’s office of dispute resolution, was established to “promote the broad use of community mediation in all regions of the state” by awarding operating grants to eligible community mediation centers. This annual report describes the progress made in broadening access to community mediation by the grant program under the challenge of reduced state funding in FY 2014. Due to the funding cut, fewer centers were funded in FY 2014 compared to FY 2013, which reduced the quantity of services provided. However, the amount of money per grant was maintained thereby enabling the 14 funded centers to preserve their level of productivity and maintain their operations. These centers served their communities by providing mediation services to help settle disputes, contributed to the growth of social capacity for conflict resolution in their communities, and engaged in efforts to raise public awareness of community mediation as an alternative approach to resolving conflict. To achieve long-term sustainability and to broaden access to community mediation across the state, however, further effort is needed from community mediation centers and the CMC Grant Program, which in turn, requires continued and increased state funding and support

Massachusetts Community Mediation Center Grant Program: Fiscal Year 2013 Year-End Report & Evaluation

During Fiscal Year 2013, the first year of the Massachusetts Community Mediation Center (CMC) Grant Program, 15 community mediation centers across the state were awarded state operating grants. This report documents and evaluates the progress of the CMC Grant Program towards its goal of expanding the use of community mediation as an affordable public service for Massachusetts citizenry. The status of program implementation is analyzed, and the program’s success is assessed through its impact on the stabilization and effectiveness of the funded community mediation centers as measured by, among other things, their delivery of high quality mediation services, efforts to increase public awareness, and cultivation of community roots. The report discusses the human resource situation faced by participating centers and portrays the investment opportunity afforded by the Fiscal Year 2013 budget to reduce conflict and strengthen capacity for dispute resolution in Massachusetts communities. Recommendations for enhancing community impact as well as insuring the long-term sustainability of community mediation throughout the Commonwealth are proposed

Increasing Housing Stability Through State-Funded Community Mediation Delivered by The Massachusetts Housing Mediation Program (HMP): Evaluation Report

This report presents findings and recommendations from a formative evaluation of the Massachusetts Housing Mediation Program (HMP) administered by the MA Office of Public Collaboration (MOPC) at the University of Massachusetts Boston in partnership with 12 Community Mediation Centers (CMCs). The program is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and overseen by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) as part of the Baker-Polito Administration’s Eviction Diversion Initiative (EDI). The evaluation was conducted by MOPC’s research unit comprised of staff and graduate student researchers, and does not necessarily represent the views of DHCD. As a statutory state office, MOPC has been serving as a neutral forum and state-level resource for over 30 years. Its mission is to establish evidence-based public programs and build capacity within public entities for enhanced conflict resolution and intergovernmental and cross-sector collaboration to save costs for the state and its citizens and enable effective problem-solving and civic engagement on major public initiatives. This HMP evaluation report is based on a literature review of housing mediation research and evaluations, including summary process and landlord-tenant mediations, and new research conducted through interviews and surveys. In this formative stage, the evaluation seeks a developmental approach to identifying key indicators of success measures from mediation users, practitioners, administrators, and sponsors with a view to answering a set of research questions on the achievement of program goals like the contribution of the mediation program to housing stability as well as mediation party and sponsor satisfaction. Over time, with the potential to expand data collection, the HMP evaluators will also actively seek opportunities to identify the economic impact of housing mediation. The evaluators would like to acknowledge the efforts of MOPC’s HMP program managers, the 12 Community Mediation Centers (CMCs) and DHCD for participating in the collection of valuable data for this report

Parent Mediation Program Evaluation Report: January-June 2019 & Fiscal Year 2019

During Fiscal Year 2019, the Parent Mediation Program, administered by the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration. proved to be an effective dispute resolution program, in which local community mediation centers served the need of divorcing, separating, and never married parents for assistance with resolving their disputes over parenting issues that arose within divorce or separation contexts to the satisfaction of nearly all parties. Under Program auspices, mediation services were provided mostly to a lower-income population, whose racial/ethnic diversity generally reflected Massachusetts demographics. Many surveyed participating parents received mediation benefits in the form of settled parenting disputes, diminished court intervention, and progress with reducing conflict and increasing communication between parents