Massachusetts has already tested rent control. Cambridge, Boston, and Brookline used local rent control systems until voters repealed them statewide in 1994.
The history matters because current proposals repeat many of the same policy mistakes: discouraging maintenance, limiting housing supply, reducing investment, and shifting costs onto small property owners who cannot absorb them indefinitely.
SPOA preserves this history so voters, policymakers, and housing providers can evaluate new rent control proposals against Massachusetts' own record.