April 2, 2026

Community Legal Aid Helping Low-Income and Elderly Tenants Seal their Eviction Cases

BY Amanda Winalski, Esq., Senior Supervising Attorney, (Housing Unit)Community Legal Aid

With funding provided by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General, Community Legal Aid has launched the Central & Western Mass. Eviction Sealing Project, which will expand its work sealing court eviction records. Through this project, staff in Community Legal Aid’s Housing Unit will assist tenants by filing sealing petitions on their behalf, representing them at eviction sealing hearings, organizing sealing clinics with community partners, and conducting outreach and “Know-Your-Rights” trainings to tenants and community partners. Additionally, the Sealing Project will collaborate with Community Legal Aid’s CORI/Reentry Unit, which focuses on helping people with criminal records overcome barriers to housing, employment, and other opportunities, to host joint sealing clinics. The project’s staff will hold at least one clinic per month, for a total of at least 12 clinics throughout the five counties over the course of a year.

A Massachusetts law, Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 239 s. 16, that took effect on May 5, 2025, allows tenants to petition the Court to seal certain eviction cases on their court record. Community Legal Aid’s Eviction Sealing Project aims to help tenants in central and western Massachusetts vindicate their rights under this law. The statute is complex and at times requires tenants to take additional steps before their cases are eligible for sealing. Tenants can learn more about eviction sealing at SealMyEviction.org.

Community Legal Aid is a non-profit organization that provides free legal services annually to over 9,000 low-income and elderly residents of Berkshire, Franklin, Hampden, Hampshire, and Worcester Counties. Housing cases comprise Community Legal Aid’s largest practice area, accounting for approximately 40% of all cases handled annually. In 2025, Community Legal Aid’s Housing Unit handled 3,700 housing cases. These legal services help tenants facing eviction or housing discrimination; homeless families who need to access the state’s Emergency Assistance shelter program; and people trying to get into affordable housing. The Unit also runs a housing discrimination testing and enforcement program. Community Legal Aid’s housing staff currently includes 30 attorneys and seven paralegals/case managers.

For more information, please visit www.communitylegal.org. To apply for Community Legal Aid’s services, call (855) 252-5342 or visit https://communitylegal.org/get-help/.