So that the homeless will have an expanded inventory of derelict buildings to shelter in?

Massachusetts is planning on banning most evictions from rental housing

Back in 2020 as the pandemic was heating up, Massachusetts was one of many states that invoked a ban on the eviction of renters, going further than even the federal government. The measure, known as Chapter 257, had remained in place since that time, being regularly renewed. But state legislatures finally allowed it to lapse at the end of March. Now there is a push among Democrats in the state’s House of Representatives to bring it back and make it permanent. While the new proposal wouldn’t ban all evictions permanently, it would make it much more time-consuming and expensive for landlords to remove people for non-payment of rent or other violations. (Boston Globe)

Landlords will now have several options: continue to pay for maintenance, heat, mortgage expenses and property taxes out their pocket and from the goodness of their hearts; convert their buildings to condominiums; or abandon their properties and get the hell out of Dodge. The first is unlikely

Just a question for these communists: on this principle, shouldn’t supermarket owners stop charging for food? Drug peddlers and liquor stores pass out their wares, gratis? Car owners give rides to bums looking to get to the welfare office? Asking for a friend.