Product Description:
This is a supplement to the tenant guide Massachusetts Public and Subsidized Housing Tenants: Know Your Rights! Get a Rent Freeze When You Go to Work. Download the tenant guide (pdf file).
Many people who receive public benefits are reluctant to go to work because they fear losing these benefits. And individuals who live in public or subsidized housing often have additional concerns about the impact an increase in their income will have on their housing.
For some tenants, rent freeze incentive policies can minimize the impact that increased earnings will have on rent. Under a rent freeze, when an eligible tenant gets a job after a period of unemployment, the rent will stay flat-- that is, not go up-- for a period of time. Most tenants do not know about these policies.
Understanding and using these housing work incentives can be overwhelming and confusing. The rules differ depending on the type of housing a tenant has, and the rules vary within each of the different housing programs. Figuring the incentives out can be especially challenging for tenants with disabilities, who may need assistance and advocacy to obtain a rent freeze.
This publication includes supplemental information for community service providers to be used along with the accompanying tenant's guide. Together these provide practical, user-friendly information about rent freeze policies and the rules that apply to them. The tenant's guide is also available as a separate publication, and includes letters to assist tenants in requesting a rent freeze.
Alternative Format:
Visual Format or Large Print, Electronic (disc, CD, 508 compliant web posting)
