Rent control ballot question secures enough signatures for 2026 election

A statewide rent control initiative that seeks to cap annual rent increases in Massachusetts at has gained enough signatures to move one step closer to being put on the ballot organizers say Homes for All Massachusetts says it has collected over signatures through its Keep Massachusetts Home campaign vastly surpassing the required by state law to qualify the rent stabilization ballot initiative for the ballot All ballot initiatives must meet the required signature total and submit them to the Secretary of State by December rd Over the past meager months thousands of renters and homeowners across the state stood outside grocery stores and shopping malls spoke to neighbors at soccer games and school dropoffs and organized their communities to sign for rent control because we believe that everyone in Massachusetts should be able to afford a place to call home explained Rose Webster-Smith Director of Springfield No One Leaves By coming together to win rent control on the ballot next year we can keep Massachusetts home for all of us The ballot initiative called An Initiative Petition to Protect Tenants by Limiting Rent Increases would limit annual rent increases in Massachusetts to the cost of living with a cap The Keep Massachusetts Home campaign says for example that an apartment renting at per month would see an annual increase in monthly rent of no more than under the initiative In the richest state in the largest part powerful country in the world how is it realizable that several people are forced to choose between paying rent or buying groceries No one should be homeless because their landlord doubled their rent overnight and everyone deserves a place to call home explained Boston-based campaign volunteer Sandra Ramgeet The advancement has opponents to the initiative and advocates for the state s real estate industry sounding the alarm calling the it the most of restrictive rent control effort in the country The risks of this ballot question for our economic activity cannot be overstated It is not an opt-in this question creates the majority of restrictive rent control operation in the entire United States and forces it on every city and town across the Commonwealth It will unquestionably make our housing predicament worse and significantly reduce the supply of quality homes on the rental region noted the Greater Boston Real Estate Board GBREB the Massachusetts Association of Realtors MAR and NAIOP Massachusetts in a joint announcement Our priority over the next year will be educating homeowners neighborhood leaders businesses and elected representatives about exactly how damaging this proposal will be for their families schools workforces and local budgets At every point of the process we will do whatever it takes to protect our economic system create new housing and strengthen the future of Massachusetts they revealed Gov Maura Healey was sought about the initiative s success with collecting signatures after an event at the state house telling reporters that rent control should be a local issue My position on rent control has been and really is that it is appropriately a local issue It s up to each city and town to decide It really isn t something that is suited to a one size fits all response Healey commented I understand that people are just really struggling around Massachusetts and around this country with the high cost of housing Its why as governor in my first year I filed and even signed a housing bill to build more housing around the state Additionally the initiative would apply the limit on rent increases to new renters taking away the ability of landlords to raise rent beyond the stated cap in-between tenants They say it would also encouragement small landlords not big corporations by exempting owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units Organizers of the ballot initiative call pushback from the real estate industry an attempt to spread misinformation We know that corporate real estate lobbyists will say anything to protect their ability to double rents overnight and we ve already had tens of thousands of conversations with voters across the state to get ahead of their misinformation and talk about how rent stabilization will stabilize our communities protect our essential workers and keep rent costs reasonable and predictable so that renters can save and have a fair shot at the dream of owning a home declared Noemi Mimi Ramos Executive Director of New England District Project Once submitted to the Secretary of State s Office the initiative will go to the Legislature which has until May to act on it If no action is taken by lawmakers an additional signatures would need to be collected and submitted by July st