Renters from across Massachusetts are asking legislators — not for the first time — to implement rent control or rent stabilization as they struggle under the spiraling cost of rent.
At the State House on Tuesday, tenants and advocates held a demonstration calling for rent control before flooding a Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government hearing to share their stories of housing instability.
Judy Holmes of Springfield said last month that she received a letter from her landlord letting her know the rent would be going up by $400 come September. She has until the end of August to decide if she will accept the increase.
“This is my home and I’m worried I will have to leave,” Holmes said. “A rent increase like that is unaffordable to me. I don’t know many people in Springfield that could handle that.”
Rent control was banned in Massachusetts in 1994 by a ballot question. Renters, advocates and legislators have repeatedly tried to reinstate it, without success.
State Sen. Pat Jehlen, D-2nd Middlesex, Rep. Sam Montaño, D-15th Suffolk, and Rep. David Rogers, D-24th Middlesex, filed bills this session that would give cities and towns the option to implement rent stabilization locally, capping annual increases. The bills would not institute rent control statewide.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median gross rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Massachusetts was $1,882 in 2023, up from $1,727 the year before and $1,381 in 2018.
Jehlen said Tuesday that the only way she had been able to afford her Somerville home when she bought it was because the city still had rent control at the time, so she was able to save money for a down payment.
Annie Gordon, a Mattapan resident, said the apartment building where she has lived for 50 years was purchased six years ago, and the previously affordable rents went up considerably.
Gordon’s home, Fairlawn Estates, was eventually purchased by another company, with financial help from the city of Boston. The new owners promised to keep the rents affordable and rent-controlled permanently.
But before that, Gordon said, she and her fellow tenants were “treated like criminals” for fighting back against the rent increases.
“Rent control would give us protection from this and unfair rent increases and a rigged market and not punish good or small landlords,” she said. “Everyone in Massachusetts deserves to live with security and dignity, have hope, and not live in fear of eviction.”
A number of cities and towns have tried to pass local rent control without success. In 2023, the Boston City Council and Somerville City Council each approved home rule petitions to reintroduce rent control, and Brookline approved its own petition at town meeting, but the proposals all failed to make it through the state Legislature.
A proposed ballot question that same year, which also would have legalized rent control, did not make it onto the ballot.
Much of the opposition to rent stabilization comes from real estate and landlord groups, who argue that it would decrease the incentive to construct new housing, which they say is a better way to bring prices down.
Tony Lopes, a landlord in the Boston area, made that argument during Tuesday’s hearing, saying rent control was the “wrong tool” for solving the housing crisis.
“The outcome will be fewer available units, deteriorated housing conditions and owners walking away from reinvestment in old housing stock that needs care,” he said. “And it penalizes the small property owners who make up 60% or more of the commonwealth’s rental market, including the immigrant and minority property owners who are seeking to get ahead.”
Supporters, however, disavowed that argument. Jehlen said building more housing to increase the supply of available units was important for bringing prices down, but it wouldn’t be enough to help renters who need assistance now.
“People are saying to us, the law of supply and demand is all we need. The law of supply and demand has run up against the facts of life,” she said. “We need immediate solutions. This is it.”
Envy Thomas, a Springfield mother and recent high school graduate, said she has struggled to find an affordable place to live for herself and her son. She works full-time at a minimum wage job, but is unable to find anything in her price range.
Thomas said that even if she finds an affordable place, she is afraid she’ll be stuck in the same position a year from now due to the possibility of rent hikes. She recalled moving around a lot growing up, and said she wanted a better experience for her son.
“Every time we were forced to leave, it felt like walking into the unknown,” she said. “Even if I were to move into a place I can afford today, it doesn’t mean I can set down roots. There is no security in an affordable apartment today, because tomorrow the rent can go up $500 or more.”
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