Rent Control Ballot Question Gathers Over 124,000 Signatures

NAIOP's 2025 Advocacy Alerts are generously supported by Issues Management Group and Pierce Atwood, LLP.

Yesterday, November 18, the proponents of the Rent Control Ballot Question announced that they have gathered 124,000 signatures. Those signatures will be filed with local clerks by 5 p.m. today, then will be transmitted to the Secretary of the Commonwealth on December 3 for final certification. This proposal would create the most restrictive rent control policy in the entire country, with rental caps far below what is allowed in Portland, or in California, Oregon, or Washington, the only other states with statewide rent control policies. Click here to learn more about the proposal.

Continuing our close coordination on a response to this ill-conceived and damaging initiative, NAIOP, the Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB) and the Massachusetts Association of REALTORS (MAR), immediately issued a joint statement to the media, which has been widely covered. This follows the groups' October efforts to educate reporters, community leaders, and elected officials about the provisions of this proposal.

Collecting this initial round of signatures is only the first step in advancing a question to the ballot. The next two steps will play out simultaneously at the State House and in the Courts.

• First, Secretary Galvin will file the ballot question as a piece of legislation that the Legislature is required to consider before May 6. The Coalition will be preparing strong, diverse, fact-based testimonies in advance of this hearing which will likely take place in March or April. If the Legislature endorses the Question, it will move forward without additional requirements. If the Legislature does not endorse the Question, proponents will be required to gather an additional 12,429 signatures.

• Second, the Coalition expects to challenge the constitutionality of the petition with the Supreme Judicial Court and is currently weighing the best possible arguments with legal counsel. The SJC generally hears ballot question challenges in early May, and renders decisions by late June.

Most importantly, should this measure advance to the ballot in November 2026, the Coalition will have the best possible campaign team, the most compelling messaging, and a broad coalition of support to defeat rent control with the voters on Election Day. NAIOP, GBREB, and MAR are establishing a ballot question committee with the Office of Campaign & Political Finance, which will allow us to begin fundraising for what we expect to be a long and hard fought voter education campaign.

In addition, today, November 19, the Joint Committee on Housing will be hearing different rent control proposals put forward by the same proponents. NAIOP has already submitted testimony in opposition to all rent control legislation and other proposals before the Committee that have been proven to chill investment and stop housing production.

NAIOP knows how damaging the enactment of rent control will be to homeowners, local communities, the real estate industry, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The state’s housing plan has identified that Massachusetts needs to build an additional 222,000 housing units by 2035 to meaningfully address our housing affordability crisis. Rent control will make that goal even more difficult to achieve.

The long, failed history of rent control policies, including right here in Massachusetts, highlights the negative impact on housing supply and quality. More recent examples, including just up Route 95 in Portland, ME, illustrate how rent control cuts property tax revenues for municipalities that are already pressed to deliver services on shrinking budgets.

NAIOP strongly believes that there are alternative paths that will allow Massachusetts to protect tenants and address affordability without suppressing housing supply. Streamlining permitting, creating and expanding housing development incentives, addressing regulatory barriers to housing production, and increasing targeted rental assistance are proven ways to address our housing shortage and ensure relief reaches those most in need.

NAIOP will continue working to expand the state’s housing supply and alleviate the shortage, even as we work to defeat this ballot question at every stage of the process. The NAIOP Advocacy Team is working on numerous initiatives at the state and local level. If you have questions regarding these, or other topics, please feel free to reach out to NAIOP's CEO Tamara Small or NAIOP's Vice President of Policy and Public Affairs, Anastasia Daou.