Massachusetts ban on rent control up for debate Tuesday

Lawmakers considering peeling back a statewide ban on rent control are slated to hear from supporters pressing for action on the “urgently needed tenant protections” and opponents who say any kind of rent stabilization will slash real estate tax collections and cut into housing production goals.

“There has been rent control in Massachusetts at multiple points in history. They had it in the 1920s, in ’40s-’50s and again in the ’70s and beyond. There is no reason to conclude that we can’t simultaneously have housing production and tenant protections,” state Rep. Mike Connolly said.

The Cambridge Democrat is a lead sponsor on one of two rent control bills before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Housing on Tuesday. Connolly’s Tenant Protection Act would lift the statewide ban on rent control — or rent stabilization as the bill describes it — and give municipalities local control and the ability to address rent caps in ways that meet the unique needs of their communities.

A second bill proposes tying rent caps to the Consumer Price Index or up to 5%. The practice of rent control was banned in Massachusetts following a tight statewide referendum in the 1990s.

“Twenty-seven years after real estate giants organized to ban rent control ordinances in the Commonwealth, rents in many parts of the state have spiraled far out of reach for working families and especially for people of color. Communities in Massachusetts are facing displacement due to pre-pandemic forces, and the housing crisis has only been exacerbated by COVID-19 and unemployment,” Homes For All Massachusetts said in a press release.

The coalition of housing advocacy groups will host a Zoom rally at 10:30 a.m. ahead of Tuesday’s hearing where tenants and landlords convene in support of rent control.

More than 25,000 eviction notices were filed with the Massachusetts Housing court since the pandemic started and the coalition says the numbers of no-fault evictions have been rapidly rising since the start of 2021.

But a study commissioned by the Greater Boston Real Estate Board and the National Apartment Association, which represent landlords’ interests, shows rent control could “drastically reduce” the supply of apartments, property values and tax revenue in Boston and throughout Massachusetts.

Boston could lose out on $2 million annually in real estate taxes, which could drop as much as $7 million statewide, the study finds.

“As well-meaning as rent control supporters are, the numbers back what economists, scholars and property owners know — rent control doesn’t work,” Paula Munger of the NAA said.

Oregon, New York and California all enacted major tenant protection and rent control bills in 2020 amid widespread concerns of pandemic-era evictions and the movement has gained traction in Democrat-led cities from Minneapolis to Boston.

Mayor Michelle Wu has pointed to rent control as a major tenet of her housing plan, which aims to stabilize the city’s housing market, which is now among the most costly in the nation.

If the Legislature fails to pass either bill allowing local control over rent stabilization, Wu said she plans to propose a home-rule petition allowing Boston the power to impose rent control in the city, which lawmakers would need to approve.

A city home-rule proposal to implement “transfer fees” for high-dollar property sales filed under former Mayor Martin Walsh died in the Legislature.