A long-time figure in the state’s housing policy debates is facing a primary challenge from the left from a candidate focused on housing issues.

Lawyer and local activist Jordan Meehan announced this morning he is challenging Rep. Kevin Honan, D-Allston, calling him “complacent” in a three-minute ad posted to YouTube that puts the rapid pace of development in the neighborhood front-and-center. Honan has represented the neighborhood since 1987.

“For too long, the direction of our neighborhood has been dictated by greedy developers, while absentee landlords and predatory management companies prey on young renters,” Meehan said in the ad. “Year after year, the rent goes up, wages stay flat, the threat of climate change becomes more severe while the MBTA collapses before our eyes thanks to decades of neglect. It’s clear this urgency is not being felt on Beacon Hill.”

In the video, Meehan says the neighborhood’s challenges “demand impatient leadership.” On his campaign website, he stakes out progressive positions in favor of rent control, a tenant’s bill of rights, mixed-income “social housing,” zoning that “encourages” multifamily development, specific investments in public transportation and various fixes to attack climate change.

Honan has been a key figure in efforts to pass Gov. Charlie Baker’s “Housing Choices” bill, backed by both municipal groups and the real estate industry but opposed by a few suburban towns concerned about “over-development” and progressive legislators who describe it as a giveaway to developers. The bill would lower the vote threshold for town meetings and city councils considering housing-related zoning changes from the current two-thirds majority to a simple majority. The Baker administration hopes the bill could help create 135,000 new housing units over the next several years.