After more than four years of legal wrangling, residents of an Uphams Corner apartment building who once faced eviction from 6 Humphreys Place in Uphams Corner gathered on June 22 to celebrate an agreement that guarantees them a home in the building for as long as they wish to stay there.

As chronicled in the Reporter last December, the residents were sent no-fault eviction notices from the former owner in 2018, a move that set off a very public legal battle that extended until the tenants negotiated a collective bargaining agreement with a new owner—the Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust (BNCLT) — that allows them to stay in their homes.

The celebration was held in the back yard of the building, which abuts the MBTA station. Eric Boyd recalled how he had lived in the South End but was pushed out by higher rents and changes in that neighborhood. That led him to move to 6 Humphreys Place, where his family, including his daughter, Zarya, celebrating life milestones and Christmases there as a family for 15 years.

Then one day, he opened up an eviction notice.

The former owner “tried every trick in the book and we came back harder every time,” he said. “We seek to keep this community ours. If this happened, he would have ended up building condos around the corner, too, and would have transformed the entire neighborhood…This whole thing started with greed and it’s all about greed and putting profits before people. The only reason I kept at this was to show other people that if we fight, we will win.”

Sheila Dillon, the city of Boston’s housing chief, attended the celebration, as did City Councillor Ruthzee Louijeune. Both praised the fight and pointed to the city’s Acquisition Opportunity Program, which was used to resolve the conflict.

Dillon called 6 Humphreys Place a landmark victory in the battle against neighborhood displacement.

“It was a fight, but a galvanizing moment for a lot of people to come together,” she said. “I think it made us stronger and became a lightning rod for what is good and what we should be doing…This has kept me inspired because we have to have these wins to keep going.”

Meridith Levy, executive director of BNCLT, said the model they are using is wonderful, but it needs to be expanded to keep up with the private market.

“What we’re trying to do is take properties off the speculative market,” she said. “We’re competing with people who have a lot of cash on hand to buy property. We’re saying ‘no’ to them and we want to keep people in their homes.”

The successful effort was a collaboration of BNCLT, City Life/Vida Urbana, Dorchester Not for Sale, and many others.