A coalition of housing teams plans to pursue a poll query subsequent 12 months that may restrict annual lease will increase in Massachusetts to not more than 5%, a coverage supporters argue is a “moderate” type of lease management that may stop households from being pushed out of their houses.
A spokesperson for the Properties for All Massachusetts coalition mentioned organizers are making ready to file a measure with Legal professional Basic Andrea Campbell’s workplace Wednesday, almost two years after infighting between Democrats and housing teams tanked an identical proposal for 2024.
Rose Webster-Smith, director of the housing group Springfield No One Leaves, mentioned working and middle-class individuals who do the roles “that keep our state going should be able to afford a roof over our heads.”
“But right now, out-of-control housing costs are making it impossible for hundreds of thousands of families in Massachusetts to make ends meet,” Webster-Smith mentioned in a press release. “We need rent stabilization to keep rent costs reasonable and predictable, so that renters can save and have a fair shot at the dream of owning a home.”
Hire management is a controversial thought on Beacon Hill that has generated heavy debate between housing and landlord teams every time advocates attempt to repeal the 1994 statewide ban on the follow.
The proposed poll query from Properties for All Massachusetts would restrict lease will increase annually to the price of residing in Massachusetts as measured by the Shopper Worth Index, with a cap at 5%.
The coverage would apply statewide, in contrast to previous measures that may have allowed municipalities to choose in to lease management.
The Shopper Worth Index reported a 2.9% cost-of-living enhance in the US in 2024, in response to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Beneath the poll query, landlords couldn’t increase lease increased than 2.9% in 2025, in response to Properties for All Massachusetts.
The associated fee-of-living enhance in 2022 was 8%, however lease will increase would have been restricted to five% if the poll query had been in place, the housing group mentioned in a press release. Landlords can be restricted to growing lease by not more than $125 for an residence that beforehand rented at $2,500, the group mentioned.
“Right now, there’s no limit to how much rent can increase every year, so corporate real estate investors are increasingly buying up homes in our communities, hiking rents astronomically, and evicting anyone who can’t afford to pay,” mentioned Denise Matthews-Turner, the chief director of Metropolis Life/Vida Urbana.
Landlord teams have argued that lease management is just not the appropriate instrument to curb crushing housing prices in Massachusetts. Opponents to the coverage have as a substitute mentioned growing housing manufacturing will assist ease costs renters face when in search of residences.
Poll query organizers face their first deadline of the 2026 election cycle Wednesday, when they’re required to show in proposals to Legal professional Basic Andrea Campbell’s workplace for evaluation.
