Rally outside State House pushes for rent control bill
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Rep. Nika Elugardo said at a rally that housing costs have begun affecting more than just the region's poorest residents.
Activists and lawmakers rallied Tuesday in support of legislation that would re-enable rent control despite a cool reception from top elected officials.
Dozens of supporters gathered outside the State House, holding signs in both English and Spanish demanding "rent control now!" and enjoying a band that provided backing music for chants. Almost every speaker described the housing market in Massachusetts and particularly greater Boston as a "crisis" or an "emergency." Several speakers shared personal experiences about being displaced by rapid increases in housing prices.
"The housing crisis is moving beyond the poorest of the poor," said Rep. Nika Elugardo, who co-filed one of the bills that would allow communities to implement rent control. "The housing crisis has moved into the middle class and is creeping up beyond the middle class. Now that so-called 'everyday people' are experiencing the pain of the housing crisis, people are beginning to question how we do business around here."
Rent control had been in place in Boston, Brookline and Cambridge until a landlord-backed statewide ballot question prohibiting the practice narrowly passed in 1994. Those three communities, which were the only ones with rent control policies, all voted against the ban, but the question passed 51 percent to 49 percent statewide.
Two bills before the Legislature would revive the ability for municipalities to implement rent control. One filed by Cambridge Rep. David Rogers focuses only on rent control, while another co-filed by Elugardo and Cambridge Rep. Mike Connolly includes it in a range of other tenant protection options.
Despite support from elected officials including Boston City Councilor Michelle Wu and Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone, the proposals face skepticism in the State House. Rogers' bill has only nine cosponsors, while Connolly and Elugardo's has 19.
Gov. Charlie Baker, who in March described rent control as "exactly the wrong direction we should go," said Monday that lawmakers should instead focus on boosting housing production as a way to open up a stressed market.
"I think the best way to deal with all issues around pricing is to increase supply. In Massachusetts we're decades behind where we should be with respect to building housing and creating more supply," Baker told reporters when asked about rent control. "We've added 600,000 people to our population in the last 20 years. We've added a fraction of the housing that would be required to support that significant increase in our population."
Baker noted the Legislature has provided resources for borrowing to boost housing, but said too many production proposals are dying at the local level. His housing production bill, which would lower the voting threshold needed for zoning changes from a two-thirds majority to a simple majority, remains stalled in committee despite repeated attempts by the administration to advance it.
"All those resources don't do you a lot of good if you can't get anything done," Baker said.
There was a lot of talk about housing production legislation in the 2017-2018 session, but legislative leaders never brought any housing bill to the floor of either branch.
The Housing Committee heard testimony on Baker's bill and several others related to production at a packed hearing in May, but since then has yet to advance an individual bill or release its own version.
Rep. Kevin Honan, co-chair of the Housing Committee, on Tuesday told the News Service that he supports the governor's bill, but said the Legislature still has more work to do to get stakeholders on board because "some municipalities do not embrace density."
"This bill has local implications and ramifications, so we need to continue to build support," Honan said. "Some of our colleagues in certain communities are never going to be comfortable going from two-thirds majority to a simple majority. Nonetheless, though, we have a crisis in Massachusetts, so I support the bill."
Asked about rent control, Honan said the topic is neither off the table nor finding consensus support among the committee. The governor's zoning bill, he said, has been a bigger priority.
Backers of the rent control bills, many of whom count themselves among the Legislature's progressive wing, have said they do not oppose Baker's housing-production bill but see it as insufficient on its own to address the burden that many low-income and minority communities face from rising housing costs.
Some speakers at Tuesday's rally criticized the Legislature for the meager progress toward addressing growing housing needs that even top lawmakers acknowledge are crying out for solutions. Curtatone, whom Connolly described as the first mayor to endorse the rent control bill, said "incremental steps" will not be enough.
"When are our colleagues here," Curtatone said, gesturing to the State House behind him as he spoke, "going to understand that we are in a crisis and start acting like we're in a crisis?"
On Monday, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Karen Spilka gave voice to taking up a housing bill, but didn't offer any timeline.
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