Local News The rent control supporters are ready to drop their ballot question campaign if lawmakers approve the compromise. But opponents say no deal is done. Supporters of rent control rally outside the Massachusetts State House in 2023. Jonathan Wiggs / The Boston Globe, File

For the better part of a year, a coalition of housing advocates have been working to drum up support for a proposed ballot question that would allow voters to enact statewide rent control. Now, the group is saying it will drop its campaign if lawmakers pass a compromise bill that allows individual municipalities to opt into a looser version of rent control. 

The ballot measure, if approved by voters this fall, would implement a blanket cap on rent increases across the state. Rent hikes would be tied to the rise in the cost of living, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, with a hard cap at 5 percent. This limit would continue to apply when new renters move into a building, preventing landlords from dramatically increasing rents between tenants. 

The compromise proposal, on the other hand, would limit annual rent hikes to the cost of living plus five percent, with a cap at 10 percent. Landlords would be allowed to raise rents between tenancies. It would ban no-fault evictions of tenants who have not violated the terms of their lease. Individual cities and towns would have to choose to adopt the law through local votes. 

Both the ballot measure and the compromise proposal contain exceptions for some properties, including owner-occupied buildings with four or fewer units. 

Proponents of the ballot measure have a July 1 deadline to submit another round of citizen signatures to the state in order to place their rent control question in front of voters this fall. The proponents said that they will end their campaign if state lawmakers pass the compromise language by July 1. 

Homes for All Massachusetts, the group leading the ballot measure campaign, said in a release Tuesday that it has been working for months to formulate a compromise proposal. This has included collaborating with representatives from the real estate industry, such as WinnCompanies, Lupoli Companies, and the HYM Investment Group. 

“While we made significant concessions in an effort to reach a true compromise, this legislation would achieve our primary goals of ending the state’s ban on rent control and enabling strong protections from excessive rent hikes and unjust evictions for Massachusetts residents,” Homes for All Massachusetts Executive Director Carolyn Chou said in a statement. 

Despite the announcement, any compromise remains far from a done deal. It is unclear how much support such a proposal has on Beacon Hill, and Gov. Maura Healey has been resistant to rent control over concerns that it could impact housing construction. 

The group opposing the ballot measure has not committed to any compromise. Conor Yunits, chair of Housing for Massachusetts, the ballot committee opposing the measure, issued a measured statement in response. 

“No compromise has been reached on rent control. We were formally contacted by the Yes campaign on Sunday with language that differs from the proposed ballot question, including sections that remain problematic for housing creation and communities. In good faith we will review their proposal, but the materials they sent us also differ from what they sent the press today. There have been no direct conversations between our campaign and the proponents,” Yunits said in a statement. 

He and other opponents of the measure, which include many in the real estate industry, argue that rent control will only worsen the housing crisis by stalling construction. They say that the ballot measure would enact one of the most restrictive policies in the country, and they take issue with its “one-size-fits-all” approach that does not include a local option. 

Massachusetts voters chose to ban rent control in 1994. But as housing supply failed to meet demand and costs soared in recent years, high-profile efforts to resurrect rent control have come back in fits and starts. One of the most notable came from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who sought to limit year-over-year rent increases to the change in the cost of living plus 6 percent, or 10 percent at most, whichever of the two figures is lower. The plan was ultimately derailed on Beacon Hill. 

Last year, Wu expressed skepticism of the current ballot measure, saying she would prefer that it be a local option instead of a blanket statewide cap. Wu later clarified that she would vote in favor of the statewide cap if it made it to the ballot. 

Wu came out in favor of the compromise bill Wednesday. 

“This is the kind of reasonable, balanced compromise that many have been looking for, in order to avoid a messy ballot initiative that would bring in millions of dollars of outside spending to pit us against each other and further delay needed housing investments from continued uncertainty,” she said in a statement. 

Wu praised the language of the compromise, saying it would give landlords flexibility, support both renters and housing production, allow for adjustments for building upgrades, and let individual communities make their own decisions. 

“Every elected official, housing advocate, developer, and community member who wants to see Massachusetts add more homes AND keep families rooted here should reach out and urge the state legislature to take action before July 1,” Wu said.