The State House's golden dome looks down on the Boston Common on Oct. 4, 2023. State House News Service photo
Even before it has advanced in the process of getting on the November 2026 ballot, real estate interests last week started to formally lobby mayors and regional chambers of commerce against the proposed initiative petition to revive rent control across Massachusetts.
Leaders of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, Massachusetts Association of Realtors and the commercial real estate development association NAIOP are taking specific issue with the fact that the possible ballot question would impose rent control in all municipalities and not just those that opt in, and how rent control policies would affect landlords, building owners and other members.
The groups said in a letter that the ballot question sought by the advocacy group Homes for All is “ill-conceived,” and rather than help alleviate the state’s serious housing shortage “will make the problem worse, hurting tenants, property owners, our economy, and communities.” The groups noted that the state permitted 14,338 new homes in 2024, which the letter said was one of the lowest per capita rates in the country, and argued that rent limitations will make “projects harder to finance, which means fewer homes get built” creating more upward pressure on market-rate rents.
“There are alternative paths that will allow Massachusetts to protect tenants and address affordability without suppressing housing supply,” the groups wrote. “Expanding multifamily permitting, advancing transit-oriented development, reforming zoning, and increasing targeted rental assistance are proven ways to address our housing shortage and ensure relief reaches those most in need.”
Homes for All’s proposal applies to all 351 cities and towns, whereas the state’s last rent control law required municipalities to opt into its policies. It would limit annual rent increases for most units to either the annual Consumer Price Index increase or 5 percent, whichever is lower. And it would use the rent in place as of Jan. 31, 2026 – about nine months before voters could decide whether to reimpose rent control – as the baseline for future changes.
Backers say skyrocketing housing costs put undue strain on many Bay State tenants, often displacing older adults on fixed incomes and preventing younger residents from saving enough to purchase a home here. Most renters struggle to afford their rent, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Voters in 1994 narrowly approved a ballot question prohibiting rent control across the state.
Supporters of the rent control initiative, like other petitions certified last month by the attorney general, must get signatures from at least 74,574 registered voters and file them with local election officials by Nov. 19 to stay on track for next year’s ballot. That’s often a significant hurdle – two years ago, only seven of 34 certified petitions filed sufficient signatures to keep advancing.
