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To the editor: From the constitution's Fifth Amendment: "... nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation."

How much clearer can it be? Mortgage-holders and landlords in Massachusetts are being forced by the state to allow their creditors to stay on their property without paying their debt. The victims are the mortgage-holders and the landlords.

Prior to the pandemic, a homebuyer of mine chose to no longer make his monthly payments to me. The foreclosure process was started, but was stalled by the pandemic moratorium. As of this writing, the occupants have been in that house for nearly three years, without paying a cent. Meanwhile, I have to pay their insurance, taxes and fire district fees to protect the property. And, I have a mortgage of my own to pay, so I don't lose the property. All because the government orders it to be so.

It's delusional and naive for legislators to assume that these creditors will make up the missed payments they'll just move on to other housing accommodations. So where's my "just compensation"? I suggest that the compensation checks being doled out by state and federal authorities are probably better at supporting the vape shops, tattoo parlors and retail marijuana stores than paying rents and mortgages. How fair and just is that? Why am I forced by the government to let these people stay in my house?

We're all sympathetic to this situation where people have lost their livelihoods due to this pandemic. But what gives the government the authority to conscribe me to cure this? I submit that this should be the responsibility of all of us as a whole, not a select few. We all read about how difficult it is to find affordable housing. How do you think that this moratorium stuff is going to impact that? I suspect that there will be fewer folks staying in the landlord business after this, since now it's clearly understood that the government can arbitrarily trample on that Fifth Amendment right at any time.

I propose that these landlords and mortgage-holders be given tax credits to compensate for lost payment. I'm confident that the credits won't be abused any more than the stimulus checks.

Jon Macht, Pittsfield

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Letter: Where is our Fifth Amendment? | Letters To Editor | berkshireeagle.com - Berkshire Eagle