Noemi "Mimi" Ramos, executive director of New England Community Project and chair of the Keep Massachusetts Home campaign, speaks at a rent control rally outside the State House on Wednesday, June 24, 2026. Photo by Alison Kuznitz | State House News Service
Angered by the Supreme Judicial Court’s decision to strike down a rent control ballot proposal, supporters gathered on Beacon Hill Wednesday to demand that lawmakers pass similar proposals by the end of July.
“We are pissed the hell off about the court’s decision because based on a small technicality, they threw out the right for voters to vote for rent control this November,” said Noemi “Mimi” Ramos, executive director of New England Community Project and chair of the Keep Massachusetts Home campaign behind the ballot measure. “But we are not going away.”
At the rally on the State House steps, housing advocates held up colorful signs, including cardboard cutouts of a Dunkin’ Donuts cup that said “Mass Runs On Fair Rent” and a jar of Marshmallow Fluff that read “Stick Together Against Corporate Landlords.”
The high court on Tuesday tossed the rent stabilization from the November ballot, ruling it impermissibly related to religion and religious institutions. Conor Yunits, spokesperson and chair of the Housing for Massachusetts committee that opposed the ballot measure, said the ruling “proved the nation’s most extreme rent control proposal was unconstitutional.”
“While we firmly believe that Massachusetts voters were prepared to vote ‘no’ in November, today’s decision puts the issue to rest and protects our housing pipeline and our communities from the proven damage that rent control inflicts,” Yunits said Tuesday.
Push for Legislature to Act in Final Month
Rally attendees emphasized the campaign secured more than 157,000 signatures in a bid to lock in ballot access. The question would have limited year-over-year residential rent increases at the same rate as the increase in the Consumer Price Index or 5 percent, whichever is lower.
“Collecting signatures was strategy part two,” Ramos said. “Strategy part one is our State House, our elected officials, our governor still have the ability to pass rent control now. This fight is still on.”
Ramos’s remarks sparked chants of “Do your job, do your job.” If the Legislature doesn’t act, Ramos vowed, “We’re coming back in 2028, y’all.”
Top Beacon Hill Democrats have long opposed rent control, warning the policy could hamper housing development and production as Massachusetts grapples with a severe housing shortage. But with the voter referendum dashed this election cycle, Bay Staters will still continue to face skyrocketing rents that are forcing some to live far away from the communities where they work.
A local-option rent stabilization measure from Sen. Pat Jehlen (S.1447) is under a Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government extension order until Tuesday. The Housing Committee has not taken action on companion legislation from Reps. David Rogers and Sam Montaño following a Nov. 19 hearing. Many bills before the Legislature die in committees, without floor votes in the House and Senate.
Wu Says ‘Certain Legislators’ Lack Urgency
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said the flurry of ballot initiatives this election cycle points to a lack of urgency among “certain legislators or chambers at the state level.”
“It’s not because all of a sudden people, you know, decided it was a fun hobby to collect tens of thousands of signatures,” Wu said at a MASSterList and News Service event Wednesday in Boston. “It’s because the level of frustration about inaction at the state level, at the State House, has reached a boiling point.”
Referencing home rule petitions surrounding transfer fees and rent stabilization that see “no action” on Beacon Hill “year after year,” Wu said people “feel like there’s no option left except to use the hammer of a ballot initiative.”
Rent control ballot question backers this month surfaced a potential compromise allowing for local-option rent control capped at a higher threshold, while carving out exemptions for new construction. Sarah Jenness, board president at affordable housing nonprofit Fenway Forward, said the compromise would “deliver the predictability that both developers and investors need to build housing now, while protecting tenants from excessive rent hikes.”
“I urge legislators to pass the rent control stabilization legislation that’s currently pending by July 31st,” Jenness said. “The legislators who are elected by all of us to represent the people must follow the will of the people by taking meaningful action to keep people in their homes, strengthen neighborhood stability and make Massachusetts a place where we can afford to stay.”
Early Polling Suggested Rent Control Support
Earlier this spring, 69 percent of voters said they would definitely or probably vote for the rent control question, according to a poll conducted by Polity Research Consulting for the Retailers Association of Massachusetts.
The ballot question, when it was viable, gave rent control supporters some leverage to entice lawmakers to consider compromises like the local option rent control structure. Generally speaking, the Legislature has adopted a skeptical view of some home rule petitions since the measures, while satisfying some communities, could open up a patchwork of differing policies from one community to the next.
Jim Stergios, executive director of the Pioneer Institute, said Wednesday the ballot question would have “devastated housing investment and local taxpayers.”
“Pioneer assembled a compelling body of evidence showing that rent control restricts housing supply, and our Legal Foundation identified additional constitutional defects that any future rent control proposal would have to overcome,” Stergios said.
Amping up the crowd before attendees headed into the State House, Andres Del Castillo with City Life/Vida Urbana said a fellow member is facing an 85 percent rent hike.
“The audacity to look someone in the face and say they want an 85% rent increase, and that this freaking building cannot get their — excuse my language — shit together to make that unlawful?” he said.
