Worcester Business Journal

8 Worcester Business Journal | September 13, 2021 | wbjournal.com Losing local landlords As renter nonpayment rose during the federal eviction moratorium, landlords based in Central Massachusetts sold their properties to less friendly counterparts with deeper pockets W hen it was established in September 2020, the federal eviction moratorium invoked by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention was meant to keep renters housed during the economic downturn of the coronavirus pandemic. About a year later, the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the policy, but its implications are continuing to have unique impacts on the Worcester community. BY KATHERINE HAMILTON Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer For David Branagan, a local landlord who has owned property for more than 20 years, the moratorium practically ended his career owning properties, causing him to sell his two multi-family homes in Worcester and Webster. "If I could do it over again, I wouldn't have become a landlord," said Branagan, who reported losing roughly $33,000 from three tenants who didn't pay him rent during the moratorium. Branagan said he worked with one of the non-paying tenants, a mother of two who worked as a food delivery gig worker, to try to get rental assistance, but the application was never finished. Eventually, he decided to cut his losses. "It would cost me a fortune with lawyers," Branagan said when explaining why he decided to sell rather than pursue the rent money. "ere were just too many landmines to go through." In early August, he sold his nine-unit property on Vernon Street in Worcester to an LLC registered to Boston real estate investors, Kinvarra Capital. Branagan said the investors plan to renovate the property, which he had been renting out below market price to low-income tenants. Just 10 minutes aer the deed was signed, the buyers distributed requests for all the tenants to leave, he said. "Before the ink was even dried, they had a sheriff there giving everybody notices to quit," he said. Worcester flooded with outside investors Small-time landlords selling their properties has become something of a trend this year. More oen than not, they aren't selling to other locals. Douglas Quattrochi, executive director of Cambridge nonprofit MassLandlords, Inc., estimated two to three times as many landlords as normal were selling properties last fall, based on membership non-renewal rates. "Investors have the money to go through with these evictions while the landlords selling can't afford the eviction," said Amanda Trudell, director of operations at Worcester real estate company DiRoberto Property Management, Inc. "ese investors aren't stopping anytime soon … It's only going to keep growing, and investors are going to keep coming in." Trudell said the trend of bigger real estate companies buying properties from small landlords is an especially acute problem in Worcester. In the last decade, more than 1,800 housing units have been constructed in Worcester, with 2,265 more rental units expected to become available in the next five years, according to a 2019 report by the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. Of those planned units, 240 are designated as affordable. A disappearing low-income rental market No-cause evictions, like the one PHOTOS/EDD COTE Landlord David Branagan sold his nine-family Worcester property to a Boston investor. D I V E R S I T Y & I N C L U S I O N FOCUS

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