To residential landlords in Massachusetts, rent control proposals are like Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare on Elm Street horror movie franchise – a relentless villain that cannot be subdued, and continues to terrorize victims in an endless series of sequels and remakes.
The latest remake is an initiative petition to “Protect Tenants by Limiting Rent Increases,” promoted by Homes for All Massachusetts, a coalition of housing justice groups.
Its petition would repeal the Massachusetts ban on rent control, enacted by referendum in 1994, and replace it with a statewide cap on residential rent increases.
The group announced last week that it’s gathered 124,000 signatures as it seeks to get its idea on the 2026 ballot. State election officials must still review the signatures to confirm their validity.
What’s the Latest Proposal?
Annual increases for most dwelling units would be limited to the lesser of the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase, or 5 percent. Owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units would be exempt, as would units regulated by public authorities, units rented to transient guests for less than 14 days and units operated for educational, religious or nonprofit purposes.
Units that received residential certificates of occupancy within the prior 10 years would also be exempt. Rents in effect as of Jan. 31, 2026, would serve as the base for determining limits on annual increases.
Landlords who violate the law would be subject to enforcement suits under the Massachusetts consumer protection law, facing possible liability for treble damages and attorney’s fees.
Boston’s Proposal Pales in Comparison
Given the housing shortage in Massachusetts, efforts to improve housing stability for lower-income families and individuals are understandable.
Some policymakers would impose rent control to achieve that goal. Indeed, support for rent control can be good politics for elected leaders in communities where many voters are tenants worried about housing costs.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu seemed aware of this in 2023, when she promoted a home rule petition for the state Legislature to exempt Boston from the state-wide ban on rent control.
Her home rule petition would have allowed Boston to cap annual rent increases at the lesser of the CPI increase plus 6 percent, or 10 percent. Dwelling units with less than 15-year-old certificates of occupancy would be exempt.
The Boston home rule petition stalled out in the Legislature.
If Homes for All’s initiative petition becomes law, it would be far more restrictive than the Boston home rule petition, which is benign in comparison.
The Homes for All petition would also impose rent control throughout the entire commonwealth, instead of only municipalities that choose to adopt rent control.
Developers May Shun Massachusetts
If economists can agree on one thing, it is that rent control’s unintended consequences outweigh its benefits.
Rent control does not increase housing availability. It may instead reduce the supply of quality housing because it impedes landlords’ abilities to cover rising carrying costs and replacement expenditures with rent increases.
Housing developers may decide to build out of state, wary that newly constructed Massachusetts properties will eventually fall under rent control.
Tenants of controlled dwellings are less likely to seek other housing when their dwellings are too big, too small or too far from their workplaces.
Rent control enforcement requires bureaucracies to adjudicate landlord requests for rent increases and to punish landlords that violate the law.
Lower property tax revenues for municipalities under rent control are another expected result. Perhaps the only beneficiaries of rent control are residential tenants lucky enough to have apartments when controls take effect.
A History of Unfair Results
Rent control does not necessarily help lower-income individuals as intended.
Opponents of rent control gleefully point out that when rent control was in effect in Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline more than 30 years ago, Supreme Judicial Court Justice Ruth Abrams, Cambridge Mayor Kenneth Reeves, Prince Frederik of Denmark and as hundreds of well-heeled professionals were living in rent-controlled apartments.
The status of Homes for All’s rent control initiative remains uncertain.
It received a boost last September when Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell certified the initiative as a potential ballot question for the November 2026 election.
The initiative needed to gather valid signatures from about 75,000 registered voters by Dec. 3, then approval by the state Legislature by May 2026. If the Legislature does not approve the initiative, it can still be placed on the ballot if an additional 12,429 valid signatures are collected.
Landlords, tenants and their respective advocacy groups, will be watching how things develop with the initiative. Homes for All is unlikely to gain approval from a Legislature that let Boston’s home rule petition languish.
If the initiative makes the November ballot, prepare for a flood of political advertisements promoting both sides of the debate next fall..
Download the article as seen in Banker & Tradesman on November 24, 2025. Learn more about Christopher R. Vaccaro.