Advocates took to Beacon Hill on Tuesday to try to convince lawmakers to advance a policy to limit rent hikes, while real estate industry leaders decried the idea as counterproductive, but there seems to be little appetite on Beacon Hill to revisit the idea.
Real estate groups say they will appeal Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s certification of a rent control ballot question.
Massachusetts residents could have a chance to repeal the state’s 30-year ban on municipal-level rent control measures, following Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s decision to allow a referendum on the topic onto the state’s 2024 ballot.
A burgeoning campaign seeking to revive rent control in some communities already faces stiff, well-funded opposition on policy grounds, and now it will need to withstand a constitutional challenge as well.
Previous efforts to reverse the ban or revive the policies in a handful of specific communities have failed to gain momentum with legislative leaders.
Gov. Maura Healey has named former Worcester City Manager Ed Augustus as the state’s first housing secretary in 30 years.
It’s one measure of the seriousness of Massachusetts’ housing issues that the leader of the state Senate’s Republicans has joined a caucus co-led by a staunch supporter of rent control.
Citing housing affordability hurdles that are compounding workforce challenges, one of the state’s largest health care employers is getting behind a proposal to allow cities and towns in Massachusetts to put a new fee on housing transactions.
House and Senate leaders on Beacon Hill chose not to intervene at the last minute to block the expiration this weekend of the state’s moratorium on evictions and foreclosures.
The Joint Committee on Housing voted along party lines Wednesday to recommend a bill that would halt evictions and freeze rents until a year after Gov. Charlie Baker lifts the COVID-19 state of emergency.
A zoning reform long sought by Gov. Charlie Baker has reemerged as part of an economic development bill intended to help the state and local communities respond to the coronavirus pandemic.
If legislators pass one of the leading proposals on Beacon Hill to deal with a possible eviction crisis without offering funding equal to its scope, they could be opening a pandora’s box.
Massachusetts’ largest affordable housing operator is extending its moratorium on evictions for tenants with financial hardship through Dec. 31 in response to lingering COVID-19 impacts.
With the clock ticking for potential legislative action to extend housing relief measures, sponsors of a new bill aimed at preserving a mandatory pause on housing removals highlighted support and strategies on Thursday.
A Beacon Hill committee has endorsed two bills that would clear the way for rent control to return to Massachusetts more than two and a half decades after voters narrowly banned the practice statewide.
We are proud to say this is a truly comprehensive bill – it provides protections for a range of interests, including renters, homeowners, landlords, small businesses and local nonprofits.
Legislators are expected to resume debate today on a halt to foreclosures and non-essential evictions for the duration of Massachusetts’ state of emergency, after one lawmaker objected to the proposed House-Senate deal Thursday.
The House on Thursday afternoon passed a bill to put a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures during the coronavirus emergency, quickly advancing the bill to the Senate.
The coronavirus outbreak has caused another tectonic shift in Boston, alongside the closure of the city’s schools and a new state mandate for restaurants to shift to takeout-only service: Several large landlords have suspended apartment evictions during the crisis.
Gov. Charlie Baker and his top deputies continue to push lawmakers to advance their bill that would lower the voting threshold required for local zoning changes, a measure that’s failed to gain traction among lawmakers.
