Whittier Terrace Associates v. Hampshire

This is a summary process action. The plaintiff, landlord of a 163-unit project financed by the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency (St. 1966, c. 708, as amended) and subsidized by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, seeks to evict the defendant from her unit for owning, without the plaintiff’s permission, in violation of project rules, a cat. The defendant, a low-income person with a psychiatric disability, claims to have an emotional and psychological dependence on the cat that qualifies her for protection under section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of…