Crowds gathered in front of the Massachusetts State House on Oct. 29 to let their voices be heard in favor of rent control with a small brass band along with signs and chants calling for rent control in the Commonwealth. 

The protestors gathered in support of Bill H.3924, a proposal that would effectively help re-establish rent control in the state of Massachusetts. This provision was originally used in several cities such as Boston, Cambridge, Brookline, and Somerville until a referendum vote in 1994 saw the protection banned by a narrow 51% to 49% margin. 

Jason Pramas, the executive editor of local alternative paper DigBoston found himself in the middle of the fight to save rent control in 1994, as he lived in rent controlled single room occupancy apparent during the time of the referendum.

“Everything’s been painted over a million times with white paint,” Pramas said describing the apartment building he used to live in. “In this case we all shared a bathroom on each floor because there were no bathrooms in each unit.”

After the referendum narrowly passed, Pramas’ landlord increased the rent in his building drastically, which led him to start a tenants union. Pramas and his fellow union members decided to appeal to their landlord for “reasonable rent increases” but after that was denied, they went on rent strike, which lasted for a couple months and ended up failing. This in turn led to many being forced out of the building and moving somewhere else. 

Pramas recalled the story of a young mother who lived in his building at the time. 

“She was maybe 30 if that with two kids and she was stone broke,” Pramas said. “She was willing to take the risk to go on rent strike with the rest of us but what was she going to do? How long could she hold out? She was one of the first ones that ended up moving out.”

In an editorial for DigBoston, Pramas wrote arguing for the reconstitution of rent control in the commonwealth. As far as media coverage of the whole rent control debate during the referendum in 1994, Pramas said the mainstream news outlets in the area did not give the issue the coverage it deserved and often ran ads for the large real estate companies. In the alternative press, however, a small paper known as the Boston Phoenix lead the charge.

“The Boston Phoenix definitely did more pro-renter stuff but they just didn’t have the reach. It’s not the same thing as having the major TV stations and newspapers in the state [talk about it].” Pramas said in a phone interview. “For all that the vote ended up being 51% to 49%, so essentially what tipped it was the money that the real estate industry put in and we can also add to that money, because I don’t think it is normally included, money that was spent on advertising by the real estate industry in the commercial press.”

In 2019, the legislative fight for rent control began with Rep. Mike Connolly and Rep. Nika C. Elugardo with the creation of H.392 Connolly said the motivation behind the creation of the bill came from his own lived experiences growing up in public housing as a kid and from what he’s seen in his district in Cambridge and Somerville. 

“We have seen an absolute wholesale displacement of the working class from these metro Boston communities,” Connolly said in a phone interview. “What we’re seeing across the Commonwealth is a housing emergency and that emergency is characterized by displacement and by homelessness that has been skyrocketing in our state.”

Connolly said the housing crisis has particularly affected renters in his areas of Cambridge and Somerville.

“What we’re seeing now in the neighborhoods I represent is investors come in and double or triple the rent, in some cases with 30 days notice,” Connolly said.  “That’s a catastrophic rent increase that completely upends someone’s life and at the very least is what I’m hoping is that in the near term, we can all agree that no one should be subject to such a catastrophic life uprooting rent increase.”

The bill itself does not, however, enact rent control across the state, but instead repeals the previous referendum that outlaw the practice across the state. It then provides various different options that local governments can implement in their respective municipalities as a way to combat the declared housing emergency. Some options include caps on rent increases, eviction protections, and limits on fees that can be charged by landlords. Connolly said the openness of the bill was intentional. 

“We think this is a really powerful way to go because we’re not trying to do a one size fits all legislation for everyone,” Connolly said. “Instead what we’re really saying is ‘let’s pass this bill so that your local officials can bring everyone to the table [on both sides of the issue] to work through regulations that make sense on the local level.” 

Connolly said while this bill focuses specifically on the issue of rent control, this is only the first step in his goal to fix the housing crisis in Massachusetts. 

“It is important that when we’re having the rent control discussion to keep in mind that the ultimate goal really should be housing for all,” Connolly said. “We should view this as one piece of that larger agenda. In the spring I introduced an entire housing for all agenda [including] several different bills and this bill is really just one component of that.”

When it comes to the bill being passed, Connolly said he is hopeful that it will pass. He pointed to the fact that several states within the past year, including New York, Oregon, and California all passed comprehensive rent control bills to help protect tenants in their respective states. 

“What we’re seeing now is the emergence of a tenants movement in different metro areas around the country and action being taken in different countries all over the world in just the last year,” Connolly said. “We are at the start of what I’m hoping will be a new era where policy makers and the public at large will recognize that we need to do more to ensure that tenants have some stability in their lives.”

The bill is scheduled for a hearing on Jan. 14, 2020.