Known for its lively sports culture, prestigious universities, and top healthcare facilities, Massachusetts has earned a new accolade: ranking among the top 10 states with the most expensive rent. In 2024, it ranked fifth, with an average monthly rent of $1,851 for a two-bedroom home. Locally, in recent years, Hampden County has led the state in eviction filings, with an average of 26 filings per one thousand renter households.
That’s compared to the statewide average of 17 filings, according to the Massachusetts Housing Partnership. A closer look at evictions issued by the Massachusetts Trial Court on residential eviction cases reveals a nearly 600-file increase in non-payment filings from 2022 to 2023 in Hampden County, outnumbering its neighboring Hampshire County by more than nine hundred filings in 2023 and 2024. Evictions, often associated with economic hardship, result from a complex series of laws and processes. This is certainly the case in Hampden County, where eviction filing rates reflect a broader trend driven by factors beyond escalating rent prices, such as difficult to navigate state-funded rental assistance programs.
Hampden County experienced a jump in eviction rate filings due to non-payments from 426 in 2022 to more than a thousand in 2023. This spike in eviction rate filings has in part been credited to the end of the federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), which stopped accepting new applications on April 15, 2022. The ERAP aimed at supporting renters who were facing eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time in which Massachusetts struggled with the housing crisis.
With the end of ERAP, Massachusetts was left with its own state-funded residential assistance program, the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition (RAFT). The RAFT program aims to provide families with funds to help retain housing, seek new housing, and ultimately prevent homelessness.
Currently, RAFT provides families with up to $7,000 per twelve-month period. The application process can take several weeks, and funds are not guaranteed, according to the Central Massachusetts Housing Alliance.
One Springfield resident, Roger Williams, spoke with MassLandlords.net about his struggle with the RAFT program. After submitting four applications, he finally reached the “under review” stage in the application process. Williams hinted at a flaw in the application system: both tenant and landlord must collaborate on the same application. If either party fails to submit the necessary information on time, the application is stalled, and eventually closed. Williams suggested streamlining the process, to allow the parties involved in the application to be aware of the progress that the other party has made. Yet as of 2025, the RAFT application process remains the same.
Meanwhile, residents are turning to other resources, like the Emergency Assistance shelter program, which has been near full capacity since November 2023. With housing resources in the state becoming less available, residents are left navigating a complex system of housing assistance programs that leaves them more vulnerable to eviction and ultimately homelessness.
So far this year, Hampden County makes up for nearly 14% of the total eviction filings due to non-payment of rent in the state. With the predicted rise in the cost of living in Massachusetts and programs struggling to keep up with the housing crisis, the state seemingly faces a tough challenge in the coming years: balancing support for residents at risk of losing their homes while managing the growing rental market crisis.