Page 4 THE EVERETT ADVOCATE – FRiDAy, ApRil 17, 2026 RENT CONTROL | FROM PAGE 3 the tax burden to homeowners and condo owners to maintain investments in education, infrastructure and public safety.The ballot question would mandate the same policy across every city and town across the state with no opt-out, meaning that even if voters in a town reject the policy at the ballot box, it will still become law in their community if it passes statewide, removing local control from housing policy. “Cities and towns across the state are already struggling to provide critical municipal services without raising taxes on their residents,” said Methuen Mayor D.J. Beauregard. “Rent control would devalue properties with crushing eff ects on our budgets that support teachers and education, police, fi re, and public safety, and infrastructure maintenance and improvement in our cities and towns.” The question would limit an50 nual rent increases to the annual change in consumer price index (CPI), which has averaged just 2.58% over the past 20 years, up to a maximum of 5%. In other places that have recently implemented rent control, the policy has led to landlords raising rents up to the maximum each year. A recent Wall Street Journal Lawrence A. Simeone Jr. Attorney-at-Law ~ Since 1989 ~ * Corporate Litigation * Criminal/Civil * MCAD * Zoning/Land Court * Wetlands Litigation * Workmen’s Compensation * Landlord/Tenant Litigation * Real Estate Law * Construction Litigation * Tax Lien * Personal Injury * Bankruptcy * Wrongful Death * Zoning/Permitting Litigation 300 Broadway, Suite 1, Revere * 781-286-1560 lsimeonejr@simeonelaw.net report on St. Paul’s rent control policy included local perspective on the actual implications of the policy for renters: “Landlords of older properties, meanwhile, say they are raising rents more often since they are limited to 3% increases. “Alisa Lein, a property manager who lives in St. Paul, used to keep most annual rent increases well below 3%. She raised the price when the apartment turned over. But St. Paul’s ordinance outlawed that practice. Now, she raises rents by the 3% maximum every year. “‘Even though I’d love to give someone who’s been in the apartment for 20 years a bit of a break, I can’t anymore,’ said Lein.” As Governor Maura Healey has repeatedly noted, the ballot question is already impacting housing creation in the state, further limiting supply. At a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce forum last month, the Governor said that thousands of units have already been put on hold and that housing investors are “just going to other states. It’s totally at odds and counterproductive to what we’re trying to do.” In Cambridge, Massachusetts, under the Commonwealth’s previous rent control regime, the city lost 2,500 renter-occupied units in just 10 years (between 1980-1990), according to the U.S. Census. Those declines were reversed only after rent control was banned by voters through a statewide ballot question in 1994. This 2026 proposed ballot question goes even further. Not only will it apply to every community in Massachusetts, but the limited exemptions in the measure would control virtually every privately owned rental property in the Commonwealth, including single-family homes, condos and twoand three-families that are not owner occupied. The measure treats individuals or families who rent out one unit the same as a hedge fund that owns and rents 10,000. The Governor and Mayors are not the only ones concerned. The Housing for Massachusetts coalition has now also been joined by more than two dozen elected offi cials, including Revere offi cials City Council President Anthony Zambuto, Councillors Joanne McKenna, Paul Argenzio, Chris Giannino, Ira Novoselsky and Marc Silvestri and School Committee Members Stephen Damiano Jr. and Alexander Rhalimi. These elected offi cials join more than a dozen business groups across the state in opposing this ballot question: Associated Industries of Massachusetts, the Charles River Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, MassBio, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, the Massachusetts Business Roundtable, NAIOP – Massachusetts, The Commercial Real Estate Development Association, the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce and many more. Housing for Massachusetts is a coalition of Massachusetts citizens, small property owners, family-owned real estate companies, aff ordable housing developers and housing advocates. It aims to educate and advocate for policies that support housing creation in Massachusetts, improving availability and aff ordability for all. Learn more at HousingforMass.com YOUR LOCAL NEWS & SPORTS IN SIX LANGUAGES. SUBSCRIBE TO THE ADVOCATE ONLINE BY SCANNING HERE!
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