A rally is planned on Wednesday in Lawrence, Massachusetts, as people there speak out against a major rent hike.
They're even taking the landlord to court, in one of the first legal battles without pandemic-era renter protections in place.
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The tenants in two apartment buildings say their rent is going up by 50% or more, and they say that they simply can't afford it.
One of the tenants is Sobeyda Rodriguez, who has lived in her apartment with her family for 10 years. But after getting a notice that her rent was going up by 50%, she feared losing the roof over her head.
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She said that she can't afford the spike in rent — from $1,200 to $1,800.
Rodriguez and her neighbors at the Union Street apartment building formed a tenant association, turned to the grassroots organization City Life/Vida Urbana for help, have posted signs on their windows and held rallies outside their buildings.
"A landlord buys the property and seeks a great increase in rent, in this case 50% plus, and that’s enough to drive out everyone in the building," Steve Meacham from City Live/Vida Urbana said.
City Life, which helps people fight eviction, said the tenants in the six apartments sent a letter offering to negotiate. They're willing to pay $100 more a month for the first year, and a cap of 2% per year after that. Both sides are now headed to court.
“They invited the owner to make a counter proposal if they want to but so far they haven’t," Meacham said.
Rodriguez said it's too expensive and disruptive for she and her family to move. She is willing to pay more for rent, but the new rent hike, she said, would push her family out of their home.
NBC10 Boston has reached out to the landlord and has not heard back.
Both sides are scheduled to show up for the beginning of eviction hearings on Wednesday afternoon.
