Rent Control Now!
The legislation
An Act enabling cities and towns to stabilize rents and protect tenants ends the statewide ban on rent control, empowering cities and towns to enact the effective rent stabilization and just cause eviction protections needed at the local level.
Check out the updated fact sheet on "An Act enabling cities and towns to stabilize rents and protect tenants."
Legislation text and lists of co-sponsors
Take action
- Individuals: please take action (and sign up for future updates) using our action tools.
- Organizations can officially endorse our top policy priorities using these forms:
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Coverage of January 11, 2022 hearing on rent control legislation
- Activists urge passage of rent bills (Bay State Banner)
- Video recording of the hearing (State House website)
- Like housing costs, interest in rent control running high in Massachusetts (MassLive / State House News Service)
- Push for rent control returns to Beacon Hill (Boston Globe)
- Rent control supporters, opponents take fight to Beacon Hill (WBUR)
- Legislators propose bringing rent control to Massachusetts for the first time since 1994 (Boston Herald)
Information and research on rent control
- Update for 2025: Homes for All Massachusetts has worked with allies to file new bill to lift the ban on rent control in Massachusetts. We are working to bring together a broad coalition to support this legislation.
- This bill will create a local option for rent control by ending the current statewide ban. When this legislation is passed, every city and town will regain the power to decide whether to implement a local rent control policy.
- This bill exempts small owner-occupied properties. For example: rent control rules will not apply to owner-occupants of triple deckers.
- More details here.
- Talking points & info on why we need rent control.
- "Rent Matters: What are the Impacts of Rent Stabilization Measures?" (Study by the University of Southern California Equity Research Institute)
- Rent control and new construction (excerpts):
- “there was little to no statistically significant effect of moderate rent control on new construction after controlling for population, racial demographics, population change, income, the percentage of units that were renter occupied, vacancy rates, and unit age.”
- “multifamily building permits actually reached their height in the mid to late 1980s—during rent stabilization” in Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline.
- Rent control and new construction (excerpts):
- "The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Rental Homes" (Data and analysis by the National Low Income Housing Coalition)
- "When Renters Rise, Cities Thrive" (PolicyLink fact sheets)