A tenant living in a low-income housing development in Cambridge is trying to avoid eviction for unpaid rent by filing for bankruptcy, possibly a first-time strategy for renters in Cambridge public housing. 

Read more “National Treasure” and other film gems

“While I cannot speak to every individual record, current [Cambridge Housing Authority] staff cannot recall another instance in the past 20 years where a resident filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in response to a nonpayment eviction,” said Clara Fraden, CHA chief executive officer.

The Cambridge tenant has lived at Roosevelt Towers, a family development on Cambridge Street, since 2018. She fell behind on rent in 2024 and was on medical leave from her job. Cambridge Day is withholding her name because she is not a public figure and bankruptcy court records can reveal detailed financial and personal information. 

The tenant started missing rent payments in 2024, and by December 2025, she owed $7,143 in back rent and was facing eviction, according to records of her eviction case in state Housing Court. A judge issued an eviction judgment, but CHA agreed to let her stay if she paid off the debt through monthly additions to her rent. 

But she stopped making the extra payments and missed some regular rent payments, too. The agreement provided that if she defaulted, CHA could immediately move to carry out the previous eviction judgment, without starting the legal process over. 

At that point, the tenant declared bankruptcy under Chapter 7 of the federal bankruptcy code, which can eliminate many types of pre-bankruptcy debt and is meant to give people overwhelmed by debt a fresh start. At the same time, filing for bankruptcy can penalize people who later seek to borrow money, get a job, or rent a home.

The CHA tenant’s bankruptcy petition in early March immediately halted all court actions to collect debts, including the authority’s request to carry out her eviction. But the CHA has asked US Bankruptcy Court Judge Janet E. Bostwick to lift the bankruptcy stay of its eviction attempt. If the judge agrees, the tenant could once again be facing loss of her home, though there are legal uncertainties about possible special treatment of public housing tenants that might prevent that, a lawyer at the National Consumer Law Center with expertise in bankruptcy said.

The filing has delayed the housing authority’s move to evict the tenant. Two hearings on the CHA request have been postponed, and lawyers for the two sides told the judge on May 27 they are negotiating. The next hearing is July 21, which means the bankruptcy filing has kept the tenant in her apartment for about five months.

Her bankruptcy lawyer, Alex Mattera of Pierce Atwood in Boston, called CHA’s insistence on evicting the tenant “very aggressive,” since the authority isn’t likely to recover back rent even if the tenant is evicted. In a filing opposing the housing authority’s motion to lift the stay, Mattera said the tenant is “indigent, elderly, and without the ability to secure alternative housing.” The tenant “has put aside” enough money to pay the full rent “from and after” March 5, the date she filed for bankruptcy, Mattera said.

Mattera is representing the tenant for free as part of his law firm’s volunteer legal service work, he said.

Read more Events in Cambridge and Somerville: fireworks, porchfest, film fest

Fraden said she couldn’t discuss an individual tenant’s circumstances, to protect privacy, but she denied that the authority’s stance is aggressive, saying that eviction “is a last resort.” Authority staff members “work extensively with residents to prevent displacement — including outreach, referrals to rental assistance, processing rent reductions when eligible, and offering opportunities to resolve issues before legal action is considered,” she said.

Residents pay no more than 30% of their income as rent, and if their income drops, “they are eligible for interim rent adjustments,” she said. “These protections are designed to keep housing affordable, even during periods of financial hardship.”

“CHA also has an obligation to administer its programs fairly and consistently. We are proud to provide deeply subsidized housing, and ensuring fairness requires that we apply program requirements and lease obligations consistently across all households,” Fraden said. “When significant arrears accrue over time, we must evaluate the situation based on the totality of the circumstances and compliance with the lease, regardless of whether a bankruptcy proceeding affects the underlying debt.”

The tenant’s income has been declining as she took paid medical leave from her job as a receptionist at a local health care organization. The court records don’t indicate whether she asked for lower rent and CHA reduced it; her monthly rent is $1,281 but her monthly expenses totalled $3,007, her bankruptcy filing said. Her take-home pay is $2030 a month plus $514 in paid family and medical leave, the filing said. Her largest obligation is $105,576 in student loans.

Though bankruptcy may be a novel strategy for Cambridge public housing tenants, at least six Boston Housing Authority tenants have filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy petitions since 2001 to stop eviction for nonpayment of rent, according to court records. Available online court records indicate the filings erased their back debt but didn’t stop the housing authority from seeking money owed from after their bankruptcy filings. John Rao, senior attorney focusing on bankruptcy, consumer credit and mortgage servicing at the National Consumer Law Center, said that “any tenant could file (for bankruptcy) and discharge back rent but if they want to stay in their apartment, that’s not a good approach” because the landlord could simply move for eviction after the bankruptcy case ends. But it may be different for public housing tenants, Rao said.

¨What makes the public housing situation unique is a provision in the code that says the government cannot discriminate against a consumer who filed for bankruptcy based on the fact that they filed,” he said.

A court decision in Vermont found that this rule applied to leases, Rao said. Still, this interpretation is not “settled law” in Massachusetts, Rao said. And it’s not clear whether it would apply to the CHA tenant, who faced an eviction judgment before she filed for bankruptcy, he said.

Mattera, the Cambridge tenant’s lawyer, has not raised this argument so far in her case. Todd Kaplan, a senior attorney and bankruptcy specialist at Greater Boston Legal Services, which offers legal help to low-income tenants, declined to comment for this story.

The CHA tenant’s phone number and email address couldn’t be found, and Mattera didn’t answer when asked for her contact information.

Read more Salt + Stone restaurant will reopen five months after fire