Massachusetts is currently grappling with a proposed ballot initiative aimed at reinstating local options for rent control, which has been banned statewide since a 1994 voter referendum.
This effort, driven by housing advocates amid a severe affordable housing crisis—where over half of renters spend more than a third of their income on housing—seeks to place a question on the 2026 ballot to lift the ban and allow cities and towns to implement their own rent stabilization measures.
The 1994 ban, passed by a narrow margin and heavily funded by the real estate industry, prohibited local rent control policies, leading to unchecked rent increases by corporate investors and contributing to displacement and high living costs in the state…