Immediate Action on Boston's Rent Control Required
Dear SPOA Members and Supporters:
Thank you for your past support in Boston’s rent control debate. We desperately need your help again.
As the public comment period for Mayor Wu’s Rent Control Debate draws to a close on Friday, September 16th at 5 PM, we need to ask you to submit your comments to the City. That is this Friday, a few days away.
The link for submitting comments is here..
Please copy your legislators, both city and state. If you do not know who they are, you can look them up here.
Today an alarming article was published by Banker & Tradesman. It almost echoes the Orwellian way Mayor Wu’s administration has approached the Rent Control debate: It's something I promised to my voters...It's a foregone conclusion...It's supported by all stakeholders.
This is factually inaccurate.
During the initial listening session last spring, more than 300 landlords called in to vehemently oppose rent control.
That was after a bizarre series of twists and turns at the hands of City Hall. The first listening session was abruptly cancelled mere moments before the call was set to begin. This was followed by a sloppily drafted explanation as to why the call never happened.
SPOA received numerous emails from our members that they had been denied entry to multiple “listening sessions”, despite these being advertised as opportunities for public comment. Landlords' attempted registrations were met with “Registration is Closed” automatic responses. This has happened on several of the calls scheduled by Mayor Wu’s Rent Control board.
After the initial call, the City announced that they would be viewer focused -- some for landlords, some for tenants, some for labor.
On the first call, supporters of Rent Control flooded the chat with false and abusive comments against landlords. The chat function was disabled on the second call for tenants but reinstated for the subsequent landlord call.
What’s going on here? Do these machinations sound like the City is truly interested in a fair and open discussion for all stakeholders? It appears that the City has made almost impossible for Rent Control opponents to have a fair hearing.
Rent Control is BAD HOUSING POLICY. It has been tried -- it has been tested. It has failed repeatedly.
Talking points for our Elected Officials in the City of Boston and the State of Massachusetts:
Rent Control is a failed policy. It has failed in California, St. Paul, MN (where it was rolled back by their mayor,) and Washington State. It has failed in every real estate market where it has been tried. It’s actively failing in NYC where a Rent Control board lords over housing providers dictating rent increases.
The way out of the affordable housing crisis is supply, supply and more supply. We need to build more housing.
Why aren’t we able to build enough housing? Studies indicate two reasons: 1) Overly burdensome permitting practices and 2) NIMBYism. Not In My Back Yard. Both exist to a fault in Boston.
After COVID and taxing Eviction Moratoriums, landlords are selling their properties and leaving Boston. When a typical three-family with an owner occupant is sold it often becomes three multi-million-dollar condominiums. In many cases, that property had existed as affordable housing for Boston’s middle-class residents. Policies such as RENT CONTROL are taking existing affordable housing units OFF the market and GENTRIFYING our neighborhoods.
Rent Control cannot be legally enacted unless one of two things happen: 1) It is put to vote on the state level as a Ballot Initiative or 2) New legislation is passed rolling back the 1994 repeal of Rent Control. In other words, a new law is passed. Even Mayor Wu is bound by the law. It would seem to violate state law for The City to implement this without state approval.
The possibility has been raised that Mayor Wu might even risk passing her own form of Rent Control leaving the landlords to pick up the pieces or fund a challenge in the court system. So the housing providers get to foot the bill for an expensive and lengthy litigation, living with the policy in the interim, while it winds its way through the overburdened post-pandemic court system?
The corporate gobbling up of housing has received limited press attention, but it’s happening. The threat is very real. Policies like Rent Control enable that to happen. Is the goal affordable housing? Or the elimination of small property owners? With demand outpacing limited supply, who is going to be able to afford to purchase housing with this new dynamic?
Rent Control is not a foregone conclusion, despite Mayor Wu’s clever narrative.
This fight is at our doorstep. Are you willing to live with the dreadful consequences of these policies
If not, we need you to stand up to City Hall and let them know that this is not the way housing policies should be made. All stakeholders should be given the opportunity to weigh in.
It is clear that a fair, deliberative process hasn't taken place -- to the detriment of our communities.
Here is an informative webinar hosted by Marcus & Millerchap SPOA participated in this past July:
Here you’ll find a different take on the way Boston’s Rent Control discussion is proceeding:
https://scottvanvoorhis.substack.com/p/05252022
And scroll down for more: https://scottvanvoorhis.substack.com/p/07292022
Sincerely,
Small Property Owners Association (SPOA)
P.S. SPOA needs your financial support to keep doing the work we do. We are a group of volunteers with our own businesses trying to support SPOA's lobbying efforts. If we are going to win this fight, we need across-the-board participation. We are all in this together and landlords need to financially participate in recognition of the threats our industry is facing as a whole. Please donate to our efforts.