Dimasi Bill Would Force Landlords to Only Rent to the Poor
      With affordable housing in short supply, activists from several Massachusetts cities urged lawmakers Thursday to pass a law intended to preserve the affordable status of more than 27,000 units of government-subsidized homes at risk of being converted to market rate units over the next five years.
      Bills filed by Rep. Frank Smizik (D-Brookline) and Sen. Dianne Wilkerson (D-Boston) would require owners of certain properties statewide to accept federal subsidy contracts offered by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to the Mass Alliance of HUD Tenants. The cities of Boston, Quincy and Lowell have each filed separate home rule petitions to accomplish the same goal. Activists and tenants from Salem and New Bedford were also on the hill to push the legislation.       The alliance estimates that nearly 4,600 affordable housing units have been converted to higher market rates since 1996. Activists say former Gov. Paul Cellucci
vetoed their proposal in 1998 and claim former Speaker Thomas Finneran blocked it in recent years. Since new Speaker Salvatore DiMasi was a previous sponsor of the bill, which has enjoyed support in the Senate, activists are hopeful that they will be able to advance it to Gov. Mitt Romney.