Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) says that her “HELP Act would give a lifeline to households dealing with eviction and important sources throughout this time of disaster,” arguing that “housing is a human proper” and that “evictions are an act of coverage violence.”
Selling the act on social media, Pressley mentioned:
Eviction is an act of violence, and we now have to do every part to forestall it. It’s devastating for the households. It degrades the well being of communities.
There may be nice stigma related to it. It impacts your credit score rating. Housing is a human proper. It’s a predictor of well being outcomes.
It’s important for social and financial mobility, and so many individuals, once they obtain a discover to give up or to vacate their properties, often due to non cost, as a result of wages usually are not protecting tempo with inflation, they don’t know their rights, and a variety of instances, they’ll simply settle for that discover to give up and go away. And so my laws is ensuring they’ve entry as a result of we discovered that when tenants know their rights, once they have entry to authorized counsel we are able to often preserve them safely housed.
Pressley’s feedback on eviction are in keeping with the housing agenda she has pursued alongside different members of the “Squad.” Through the coronavirus pandemic, Pressley joined Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) in backing laws that may have canceled lease and mortgage funds nationwide.
Pressley and the opposite lawmakers first supported the proposal in 2020 and later reintroduced the laws in March 2021.
The housing push additionally drew consideration as a result of each Tlaib and Pressley reported receiving rental revenue whereas supporting a nationwide pause on lease funds. Tlaib disclosed receiving between $15,001 and $50,000 in rental revenue in each 2020 and 2021 from a Detroit property she owns, whereas Pressley and her husband reported between $5,000 and $15,000 in rental revenue in 2020.
In February 2024, after Walgreens introduced the closure of one other pharmacy location in Roxbury, Massachusetts, Pressley mentioned the transfer was “half of a bigger development of abandoning low-income communities” and described it as “life-threatening acts of racial and financial discrimination.”
Pressley has touched on comparable themes in remarks on different points.
In October 2025, Pressley marked Columbus Day by posting on social media that “We’re all on stolen land” whereas celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day, accusing Republicans of making an attempt to “whitewash American historical past,” and stating that the nation had inflicted trauma on Indigenous communities and that her workplace would proceed “centering Native voices” in policymaking.
Pressley has additionally confronted scrutiny over spending by her congressional workplace after information reviewed in 2022 confirmed she spent roughly $63,000 in taxpayer-funded Member Representational Allowance cash on non-public safety providers in 2021, regardless of repeatedly backing efforts to defund the police and reallocate sources away from conventional regulation enforcement.
Pressley mentioned in 2020 that policing must be reimagined by way of what she described as “true reparations” and higher funding in communities, and in 2021 mentioned she supported “a radical reimagining of group security and public security.” The spending was disclosed as Pressley and different members of the “Squad” continued supporting efforts to defund the police, whilst different Democrats, together with then-President Joe Biden, rejected the motion and referred to as on Congress to “FUND the police.”
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