Two Boston city councilors want to put the city's worst landlords on blast — literally. City Council President Liz Breadon and Councilor Brian Worrell introduced an ordinance Wednesday that would create a public list of landlords with repeated housing violations, unpaid fines, and other records of noncompliance, using a points-based system built from city inspection data.
The proposal, first reported by Boston.com, would have the city draw on Inspectional Services Department data, including housing-code violations, reports of poor living conditions, fire-code violations, unpaid fines, and failures to comply with rental registration. The resulting list would be published twice a year under the version of the ordinance introduced this week, according to the outlet's report.
Worrell said the goal is a roster of what he called bad actors — landlords who repeatedly fail to maintain their properties, provide quality housing, or address neighborhood quality-of-life issues. He also called for stronger enforcement against landlords who simply refuse to pay fines they've racked up for housing-code violations, both statements made as the ordinance was introduced this week.
What Landlords Would Risk by Making the List
Landlords placed on the list could be barred from doing business with the city, receiving grants, obtaining zoning relief, or participating in Boston's Article 80 development-review process, the same report notes. They would also face increased inspections and fines, stacking additional scrutiny on top of whatever violations landed them on the list in the first place.
Breadon framed the list as a pressure tactic rather than a punishment on its own. She said the point is that landlords will not want to be on the list, because the exposure itself pushes them to raise their standard of care for tenants, and that giving renters that information is meant to hand them more leverage in a tight rental market.
A Years-Long Push Rooted in Allston-Brighton Complaints
This is not Breadon's first run at the idea. According to WBUR, she has been working since 2023 on a proposal for a searchable public list of Boston landlords based on city data, and has been coordinating with the Inspectional Services Department to make sure the metrics used to score landlords hold up. An earlier version of the concept, covered by the Boston Herald in March 2023 and co-sponsored with then-Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune, would have targeted rental property owners who continually failed to comply with the city's rental unit regulations and provide tenants with safe and adequate housing, with that iteration described as producing an annual list rather than the twice-a-year schedule now attached to this week's ordinance.
Breadon represents Allston-Brighton, where she has said 80% of residents are renters. Last month she launched a survey asking residents in her district about their landlord experiences, and her office has since created a similar survey for renters citywide. Breadon said residents have complained to her about mold, frozen or burst pipes, and landlords who simply fail to communicate with tenants about problems in their units.
Looking to Chicago and Toronto as Models
The Boston proposal is explicitly modeled on an existing program elsewhere. Per WCVB, the list was modeled on a similar one published in Chicago, which has used its version to restrict landlords' ability to do business with the city or obtain zoning relief. Breadon has also pointed to Toronto, which runs a comparable scofflaw dashboard; she told the same public radio station that being placed on Toronto's dashboard as a subpar landlord actually prompted some property owners there to improve their practices, though that outcome has not been independently verified and reflects her own account of the program.
Next Steps at City Hall
Ten other councilors have signed on in support: Miniard Culpepper, Sharon Durkan, John FitzGerald, Ed Flynn, Ruthzee Louijeune, Julia Mejia, Erin Murphy, Enrique Pepén, Henry Santana, and Benjamin Weber. The ordinance has been referred to the Committee on Government Operations, which handles local laws affecting residents' quality of life, and Breadon said a hearing would be scheduled in the coming weeks.
