Rent stabilization proposal heads to State House after passing in Boston

The Boston City Council is moving forward with rent stabilization. The council approved Mayor Wu’s updated proposal but the rent control initiative still has several hurdles at the State House.

Boston City Council voted 11 to 2 to pass Mayor Michelle Wu’s rent control proposal. The plan would cap rent hikes at six percent plus the inflation rate at the time – with a maximum increase of up to 10 percent if inflation is higher than 4 percent.

“We would protect residents from the cases that we hear far too often of extreme price gouging. Where the increases are far great than inflation plus 6 percent and where families have no chance to even try to absorb that,” said Wu.

Rent Control Supporters, like Mike Leyba with City Life Vida Urbana, were ecstatic that the proposal was passed with such a convincing margin.

“It is 11-2. That is a huge amount of consensus. It aligns with the city of Boston, the people of Boston have to say. They say 79 percent rent control,” said Leyba.

To help address concerns the plan would hurt development, the rent cap would not apply to new construction for the first 15 years. Also, small owner-occupied properties like triple-deckers would be exempt. The Greater Boston Real Estate Board has actively campaigned against government price controls on housing as a problem rent.

“The industry is very passionate about this issue and once it comes it often doesn’t go away and we have seen in other jurisdictions across the country where it has been implemented, it hasn’t solved their problems,” said the CEO of Greater Boston Real Estate Board, Greg Vasil.

Both sides plan to fight for and against the idea as the proposal makes its way to the state legislature. “We will take a good hard look at this, see where the advocacy needs to happen up on Beacon Hill and adjust accordingly,” said Vasil. “Keep advocating at the state level and we are going to move this fight on,” said Leyba.

The state legislature can amend Boston’s proposal but if it is a substantial change the city says it would need to sign off on it. The Governor would also need to sign the plan before it goes into effect.

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