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Photo courtesy of Massachusetts Office of Attorney General. Equitable housing and consumer protection advocate Esme Caramello is Attorney General Andrea Campbell's choice to lead the AG's new Housing Affordability Unit.
5-28-2024 10:41am
Mass AG's New Housing Affordability Unit Gets a Director to Ensure Access to Affordable Housing
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Thanks to the Massachusetts Office of Attorney General for sharing this news with Westwood Minute.
BOSTON – Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced on Tuesday, May 28, 2024, that Esme Caramello will lead the Office’s Housing Affordability Unit starting this July. Newly established under AG Campbell, the Unit will advance the statewide interest in expanding the availability of housing, and particularly affordable and multi-family housing, throughout the Commonwealth.
Caramello’s appointment comes in the face of a statewide housing crisis, where residents continue to grapple with a high cost of living and a shortage of safe and affordable housing options. The
Housing Affordability Unit will further AG Campbell’s strategic priority to expand access to safe and affordable housing by engaging in legal advocacy to support affordable and multi-family housing development, provide resources and guidance to municipalities
and developers, and provide additional land use and zoning expertise to areas in which the AG’s Office already engaged.
As part of this work, the Housing Affordability Unit will work to ensure that municipalities comply with existing housing and fair housing laws. This includes compliance with the MBTA Communities
Law, a bipartisan law that serves as a tool to create more districts where more housing can be built. The Unit will also work with staff across the AG’s Office to ensure residents are protected from predatory or discriminatory housing practices.
“As Massachusetts seeks to address soaring housing prices and rising rents that harm our residents, families, and businesses, my office has unique tools to help address the crisis, and we intend
to do our part,” said AG Campbell. “By establishing the Housing Affordability Unit and appointing Esme, who has deep expertise in housing, my office is committed to using all of our tools to ensure more safe and affordable housing opportunities for
all.”
Prior to being named Director of the AG’s Housing Affordability Unit, Esme worked extensively on equitable housing and consumer protection issues on behalf of Massachusetts residents. Most recently,
since 2015, Esme has worked as the Faculty Director for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau leading a civil legal aid clinic representing clients in housing, family, and workplace justice matters at various levels within the Massachusetts Court system and before
administrative agencies.
“With this new unit, AG Campbell isn’t just talking about addressing the state’s housing crisis, she’s walking the walk – and I’m thrilled to be at the forefront of that work,” said
Esme Caramello, Director of the AG’s Housing Affordability Unit. “I look forward to working with staff across the AG’s Office, as well as our community partners, to protect residents, advance fair housing, and ensure all stakeholders across the state
are acting in compliance with the law.”
With a focus on fair housing, Esme has been practicing housing law since 2006. She has authored amicus briefs and led advocacy for
state legislation to promote housing stability and opportunity, including the Housing Opportunity and Mobility through Eviction Sealing (HOMES) Act, which AG Campbell
testified in support
of in 2023. Esme also worked as a contract supervisor within the Housing Unit at Northeast Legal Aid, supervising the case work of housing attorneys and paralegals, and as a visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School in the
Housing and Consumer Protection Clinic. Additionally, Esme has been a Harvard Law School faculty member since 2014, where she teaches a course housing policy.
