In a city synonymous with high housing costs, residents of Boston have long dealt with the soaring cost of rent. In fact, for the past several years, Zillow has listed Boston as one of the top 5 most expensive rental markets in the nation. A recent 2022 report by the Greater Boston Association of Realtors’ showed that between 2019 and 2022, is the same time for the median cost of a single-family home rose by 26%.
In the face of this crisis, Mayor Michelle Wu has pushed for a proposed 10% cap on increases to the cost of rent per year. Based on reporting by Boston.com on January 18th by Ross Cristantiello, Wu proposes that rent may be increased by up to 6% with the addition of increases due to inflation, totaling to a maximum of a 10% annual increase. Additionally, her proposal offers additional protections to tenants from unwarranted evictions. Notably, homes built over the past 15 years, as well as small owner-occupied properties, would be exempt from this policy.
Mayor Wu has long been fighting for rent stabilization policy, which was prominently featured during her mayoral campaign. In a recent interview with WBUR, Mayor Wu said when pushed on the purpose of her proposal, “The purpose of rent stabilization is very specific. It is to stop the harm that is happening when we have too few affordable housing units to match the number of people. We need to add more, and in this transition, as we are looking to boost housing supply and boost home ownership.”
Notably, Mayor Wu has been careful to label her plan as rent stabilization, as opposed to rent control, which has long been a highly controversial topic in Boston’s history. In 1994, a state referendum was narrowly passed banning the practice of rent control statewide. Despite 51% of voters agreeing to prohibit statewide rent control, the areas where rent control were already in place, were staunchly in support of rent control policies. This is largely the same area which would be affected by Mayor Wu’s new proposal.
Mayor Wu’s proposal does not come without public opposition, including Greg Vasil, CEO of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board, who according to reporting by Boston.com on January 18th by Ross Cristantiello, has publicly come out against rent stabilization policies. He argues that rent stabilization is synonymous with rent control, which he believes will put detrimental limits on the housing market. The most common arguments against Mayor Wu’s proposal is that rent stabilization would decrease investment in the building of new housing units, as well as current maintenance and upkeep of presently existing units.
To that end, Mayor Wu has vowed to increase the number of housing units through an overhaul of Boston Planning and Redevelopment Agency (BPDA) in her February State of the City address, an organization which has long been accused of being particularly friendly to housing developers. She proposes a new Planning Advisory Council to help facilitate the development of affordable housing, which has drawn an unsurprisingly significant amount of detraction from housing development interests.
On the other side of the argument, hundreds of community activists were seen gathering around the State House on January 28th in support of rent control policies. Based on reporting by The Bay State Banner on February 1st by Isaiah Thompson, many of these activists argue that Mayor Wu’s rent stabilization proposal would help the city’s lowest income residents avoid eviction and homelessness in a time where rent prices have already reached sky high values. Even with the potential benefits this could afford Boston tenants, many feel that Wu’s rent stabilization plan is only the beginning towards achieving reasonable housing prices. Ming, a housing counselor in Boston, points out
“if capped at a certain percentage, rent is still too high for elderly folks who are retired. Many elderly residents face rent costs of $1000 or more per month for a single bedroom apartment, but only receive about $600-700 in income over that same amount of time. Despite the potential for rent prices to be controlled, it is likely that rent will continue to be a worry for elderly residents in that situation, as well as many low income residents in the city. I suggest that the only option is to build more elderly housing units.”
Anna, a Boston case manager, adds “Some of my clients who applied for rental assistance live in middle-income housing, and their rents were between $800 to $900 from 2020 to 2021.” She explains
“their income was solely from earned wages. Their rents increased up to the range of $1,300 to $2,000 in 2022 – an increase of 62.5 to 150 percent in one year. Some were retirees. Some had lost their jobs during the pandemic. All did not see any substantial wage increases. Therefore, they could no longer afford to pay such rent amounts in Boston. Mayor Wu proposes setting the annual allowable rent increase at either 10% or at the Consumer Price Index for the Boston metro plus 6%, whichever is lower. However, one must recognize that those who are still working may not be receiving a six percent wage increase, and that inflation has significantly increased their expenses.”
Despite these potential issues, through her proposal, Mayor Wu has drawn the support of many in working class Black, Hispanic, and immigrant communities who have suffered from recent rises in rent and the cost of living in the city. According to a report by Emma Platoff from the Boston Globe, as of February 14th, Mayor Wu has now filed her proposal to the City Council. In a letter to the city council, Wu wrote, “tenants in Boston are often victim to steep rent increases, making it impossible for them to stay in their homes,” as justification for her new rent stabilization policies. While it remains to be seen if her proposal will move through the City Council and state officials, many see rent stabilization as the key to a potential brighter future for Boston residents.
Bostonglobe reported today 2/21/2023 that the real estate industry is taking their fight directly to Boston voters, launching a six-figure campaign to defeat the policy before it has even been formally debated. The Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB), began a digital and mail blitz to try to persuade residents that rent control will aggravate the region’s housing crisis, not improve it. They plan to spend just under $400,000, organizers said, with the possibility of pumping more cash into the initiative and even expanding it statewide should the proposal make it to the Legislature.
