Rent Control Measure Slashed from Massachusetts Ballot

The rent control fight in Massachusetts appears to be over for now after a consequential decision from the state’s Supreme Judicial Court.

A statewide ballot measure set to appear before voters in November is no longer being allowed, WBUR reported. The presence of a religious exemption to the measure prevents it from going before voters as per the state constitution, according to the court.

A landlord-backed coalition asked the state’s Supreme Judicial Court to block the question from appearing on the ballot; early polling showed voters leaning toward rent caps.

State Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s office argued that the exemption didn’t discriminate for religious institutions and involved exemptions that could be considered secular. To the court, however, the exemption for religious facilities was all that mattered for the ballot measure.

Opponents of statewide rent control celebrated the court’s ruling, saying it was time to work as a community to tackle housing affordability with policy solutions.

A proponent for the state rent control measure, meanwhile, said the issue at hand was “easily fixable” and alluded to a potential attempt to get it back on the ballot in two years.

Industry groups largely opposed the proposed ballot measure, which would’ve allowed cities and towns to cap annual rent increases at 5 percent. The ballot initiative would’ve applied across all 351 municipalities in the state, though it included carveouts for owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units and exempted new construction for the first 10 years.

Advocates behind the campaign — led by the housing group Homes for All Massachusetts — say rent regulation is necessary to curb runaway housing costs.

But an economic analysis from the Tufts University Center for State Policy Analysis, commissioned by the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, estimated that instating rent control statewide could erase roughly $300 billion in property values within a decade.

Gov. Maura Healey came out against the proposal, warning it has already slowed some housing projects as developers weigh the policy risk. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, meanwhile, supports rent stabilization but has encouraged state lawmakers to craft an alternative framework if they oppose the ballot measure.

— Holden Walter-Warner