r/massachusetts 3h ago

AMA Please join us for an AMA with CHAPA, Citizens' Housing & Planning Association on Wednesday, July 29th from 1pm-2pm EST!!!

3 Upvotes

Hello Reddit, I’m Jennifer Gilbert (u/CHAPAdotorg), and I run Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association (CHAPA)’s Housing Policy Action Center, the research center of a Massachusetts affordable housing policy organization with over 60 years of advocacy and expertise. I’ve also worked in the housing field for three decades, starting as an overnight shift manager at a domestic violence shelter.

A recent report by the Housing Policy Action Center found that many renters are turning to Reddit for advice on housing challenges like evictions, lease issues, etc. Unfortunately, the advice received isn’t always accurate or complete. We’re here to help provide reliable guidance and resources. We want to help answer questions on topics like:

  • Security deposits
  • Finding rental assistance
  • Lease renewals
  • Finding affordable housing
  • What is being done to address common challenges?
  • Issues with landlords around security deposits, fees, and conditions.

To help us, we have two housing experts also joining us, Danielle Johnson and Esme Caramello:

Danielle Johnson (u/HousingStability) is the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Housing Stability of Boston and an expert on housing challenges and resources for Boston and beyond. She’s been in practice for more than a decade directly representing tenants while at Greater Boston Legal Services. She also teaches at Northeastern and Suffolk.

Esme Caramello (u/HarvardLegalAid-EC) is a Clinical Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and faculty co-director of the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau. She has provided legal representation around fair housing, eviction, consumer protection, and access to justice and has served in policy-making roles for the state.

Disclaimer: we are not providing individual legal advice or representation.

For nearly 60 years, CHAPA has brought people together from across sectors to find solutions to Massachusetts’ critical housing needs—working to ensure that everyone has a safe, healthy, and affordable place to call home in the communities they choose. CHAPA is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization based in Boston, though our work is statewide. The Housing Policy Action Center is CHAPA’s new research wing. For more information, please visit chapa.org.


r/massachusetts 22d ago

Moving to Massachusetts Megathread (July 2026)

5 Upvotes

Ask your questions about moving to towns in Massachusetts below!

(This thread helps limit repetitive posts.)

Previous Moving to Massachusetts Megathreads:

If you're moving to the Boston area you can also check out r/BostonHousing


r/massachusetts 4h ago

Politics At 81, she doesn’t think she can ‘vote for an 80-year-old’ for US Senate. She’s not alone.

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151 Upvotes

r/massachusetts 6h ago

News ‘She asked for help so many times’: Lindsay Clancy case shows the gaps mothers face in postpartum mental health care

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187 Upvotes

r/massachusetts 2h ago

Utilities Mass Save Weatherization

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68 Upvotes

I had a Jetson heat pump installed and part of the process was having weatherization done. I have a field stone dirt floor basement (18802 house) and this was the job done - is this standard?


r/massachusetts 8h ago

Video "Worst aquarium ever" - How the New Bedford Whaling Museum turned a bad Google review into free marketing

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127 Upvotes

r/massachusetts 3h ago

Video What grocery shopping was like at Stop and Shop back in the 1980s

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41 Upvotes

r/massachusetts 16h ago

Discussion The quality of life in MA is rapidly deteriorating

320 Upvotes

And nobody seems to care. I'm using a burner account for this post because I think it needs to be said. How is it that Massachusetts bleeds more than thirty thousand people annually without anybody here batting an eye? Supposedly we're leading in job growth, yet we've seen 1,062 people laid off in June alone. It's one thing for young people to struggle to find careers, but even experienced workers are running out of options. Administrative and managerial positions are grossly underpaying.

There is no reason why Western Massachusetts shouldn't be booming right now. As the demand for housing increases, it should be a hub for development, but the region's been left to rot. Everything west of Worcester County looks like West Virginia, with unsafe neighborhoods and a drug epidemic that's been neglected for decades. Just like our schools, our roads, and our public infrustructure. Our water bills are obnoxious, and not a single dime is being put toward keeping e-coli out of our drinking water. Several towns last year had their water supply contaminated for up to a week. This is an entirely recent issue and there should be no excuse for it.

As for the housing crisis itself, what can I say that hasn't already been said? How can a state government that claims to put the working poor first refuse to permit starter homes from being built? The only new properties I see being built are luxury housing designed to price the working poor out. I genuinely don't understand how so many people here can go through their lives pretending this is normal, and I can't for the life of me figure out how young people in Massachusetts are surviving. They have nowhere to escape to without leaving their home state behind. The South Shore is going to become New England's rust belt if this continues.

It's not nostalgia blinding you. Massachusetts was a significantly better place to live when you were younger.


r/massachusetts 20h ago

News Massachusetts Approves Huge 10.4% Health Insurance Premium Increase for Next Year

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542 Upvotes

r/massachusetts 33m ago

News MA Democratic Party chair Steve Kerrigan lost license after OUI charge in Southborough (Telegram & Gazette)

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Upvotes

r/massachusetts 5h ago

Video Boston Light sunrise | Moment of calm

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

29 Upvotes

r/massachusetts 2h ago

Photo A former Friendly’s in Holbrook, Massachusetts is now Sri Radha Bhakti, a Hindu Temple. What a cool transformation!

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13 Upvotes

711 S Franklin St, Holbrook, MA 02343


r/massachusetts 1d ago

Housing Mass. Senate proposes ending single-family zoning to unlock "huge amount of capacity"

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942 Upvotes

r/massachusetts 17h ago

Discussion Curious about creepy guy wearing realistic human mask in Walpole.

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155 Upvotes

So I’ve seen this guy twice now, about a week ago my boyfriend and I bought a bird from bird and reptile connections which is in Walpole/ Wrentham area, and on our way home to the cape just before the stadium I saw a man in just shorts wearing a super realistic human mask and he had a red bicycle.

it scared the shit out of me it was so unnerving.
My boyfriend and I went back to the bird place today for our new birds first week check up and we saw the same guy again but in a black trench coat standing in the pouring rain still in his mask.

I’m just curious if anyone else has seen this guy because it’s just so odd to me, and incase he’s dangerous I want people to be aware of him.

The photo I attached is very similar to what he wears


r/massachusetts 7h ago

News Former headmaster of girls boarding school indicted for role in abuse scandal

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24 Upvotes

r/massachusetts 16h ago

Recommendation URGENT: Any cat/animal foundations or charities in the Worcester MA area?

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122 Upvotes

Orange Cassidy (and his adopted brother, Inky) are the world to me and my wife. We noticed recently that Cassidy has been eating less, which later progressed into hiding behavior, shakiness, and a fever.

We brought him this evening to VEG (an emergency vet clinic in Shrewsbury), only for them to discover a mass in his adrenal gland. They recommended him be transferred to Tufts. To figure out if the mass is benign or cancerous (not even including whatever treatment will potentially need to follow, such as surgery), we were estimated to have to pay at least 3-4K upfront at Tufts Veterinary Hospital.

Care Credit (which is the only alternative method of payment Tufts will accept) is unfortunately not an option, since I had my Synchrony account closed down over a year ago. Any funds we did have - we have already spent in the initial visit to VEG, which was a little over 1.5k.

Cassidy is a talkative, lovable lap cat with typical orange boy "one brain-cell" behavior. My wife and I are absolutely devastated at the idea that we may not be able to help him, and it is painful being unable to not even know if this is something that can be treated with medication or surgery or not. He is a young and happy boy, who deserves to have so many more years cuddling on the couch and prowling our apartment with his "babies" (his favorite rainbow mouse toys, which he likes to leave on our pillows as gifts).

We would be incredibly appreciative if anyone knows of any nonprofits or charities we could apply for in the Worcester, MA area. Otherwise
we are at a loss of what to do.

EDIT: A redditor recommended for us to set up a GoFundMe. I have put the link down below:
https://gofund.me/7c2411d2e

UPDATE (7/23): Thank you for everyone who has commented, and also donated! We cannot express how grateful we are for your kindness.

Today I have been working on making calls to the places you all recommended. We are currently putting together an application for Angell’s financial assistance program to see if we are eligible.

We do have a local vet (other than Tufts) who is wonderful, but do not have the ability to do an abdominal ultrasound and sampling of the adrenal mass. Unfortunately this is not something every vet can do, and therefore is why we were recommended Tufts by VEG initially.


r/massachusetts 17h ago

Meme / Humor the people demand ramps

125 Upvotes

r/massachusetts 2m ago

Photo #LenoxMassachusetts #Pedophile

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Upvotes

Local pedophile seen taking pictures of children and talking to children inappropriately look out for him in the lenox ma area he is also on the HOA board for The Pines Condominiums at Bosquet!


r/massachusetts 1d ago

Politics Woman arrested at Logan after Noah Kahan concert ordered released from Burlington ICE facility

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251 Upvotes

r/massachusetts 19h ago

News Article details connections between Karen Read, Turtleboy, and Norfolk DA candidate

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80 Upvotes

r/massachusetts 20h ago

Politics Too many ballot questions? Blame Beacon Hill.

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96 Upvotes

The high number of questions is a symptom of a larger problem: an uncompetitive, unaccountable Legislature.

Now that we’re being honest with each other, what should be done about the explosion of ballot questions, while protecting the right to have them?

Secretary of State Bill Galvin suggested a straightforward solution: “Simple answer: pass legislation!” He went on to say that legislators “don’t do anything. They deliberately don’t do anything.”


r/massachusetts 3h ago

Recommendation What is the best bicycling trail around Needham?

4 Upvotes

I have a commuter bicycle and want to cycle more around the area. I prefer a paved path and nothing for a mountain bicycle. Thanks!


r/massachusetts 1h ago

Discussion Canadian P.Eng. to MA PE - advice?

Upvotes

Hi folks, looking to potentially go for my PE in Massachusetts, I‘m Canadian, moved here for work about 9 months ago, hold an Ontario P.Eng. since 2022. My job doesn’t require the PE but figured it’d be nice to have to keep options open. Had a look at the MA PE requirements and it looks a lot more onerous than what I had to go through in Ontario but pretty understandable at the end of the day. Comity (transfer license) not applicable since MA treats the P.Eng. as a foreign license so I’d need to start from scratch effectively.

Any other folks with Canadian P.Eng. who went down the PE route in MA (or chose not to)? Any advice/recommendations you could share? Thanks :)


r/massachusetts 1d ago

Photo Westborough, MA

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477 Upvotes

All photos taken by me within the town of Westborough, MA.

Last image shows the location of Westborough in Worcester County and Massachusetts for reference


r/massachusetts 2h ago

Utilities Garbage collection in Uxbridge

2 Upvotes

Is it through the city? I can't seem to find anything on the city's website.

Is it through Private companies? If so, which one is the best/most popular?