APARTMENT ADVOCATE
NATIONAL APARTMENT ASSOCIATION
Rent Control Conversations Spread Throughout the Country
Colorado is not the only place considering rent control legislation as the new year begins . Connecticut and Boston , Massachusetts are both seeing advocate efforts to enact the policy . Fortunately , new legal thought in Montana may mean that the state has already preempted local jurisdictions from regulating rent .
Boston
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu campaigned on bringing rent control back to Boston . Since entering the office , her plans have been stymied by Massachusetts ’ preemption of local rent control which was passed by statewide ballot measure in 1994 . Back then , rent control in cities like Cambridge and Boston had driven down local property
values and , due to a state funding formula , Massachusetts residents in other towns were forced to subsidize the eroded tax revenues . This led to the state banning local government from instituting caps on rent increases .
However , now that Maura Healey flipped the Governor ’ s office from red to blue in 2022 and both chambers of the legislature are Democratically controlled , Mayor Wu ’ s goal of lifting the statewide rent control ban is looking like a possibility . A definitive proposal has not been announced , but it is expected that the mayor and advocates will push for something close to a six percent cap on rent increases plus the change in inflation with a maximum increase of 10 percent . This proposal may exempt new construction built within 15 years and some smaller , owner-occupied properties . The rent control law could also include a justcause eviction ordinance which lays out specific requirements for a rental housing provider to regain possession of their property .
Connecticut
State and local advocates are rallying around a bill that has been proposed in the Connecticut State Senate which would limit rent increases to two and a half percent per year and create no-fault eviction rules like in Boston . The proposed bill , CT SB138 , is a placeholder bill and does not include specific language on what those eviction protections would look like ; its filing , however , is indicative of a coordinated push for rent control by progressive advocates in Connecticut with buy-in from legislators . www . aamdhq . org FEBRUARY 2023 TRENDS | 41