Property Rights Victories: Why We Need Your Continued Support
Dear SPOA Members and Supporters:
Our battle for property rights and fair housing policy has felt like a roller coaster for the past two years! We thank you for riding with us. Your support was crucial to ensuring that small property owners were heard at the Massachusetts State House, enabling us to secure significant victories in the legislature this past session! THANK YOU AGAIN!
Before recapping our accomplishments, we must stress that the battle is by no means over against a well organized — and well financed — anti property rights movement that will return next session with a vengeance!
Already, rent control and “social justice” activists are re-organizing to recycle the same dangerous and failed policy proposals that will devastate the housing industry, our communities, and the many tenants who depend on us to provide them with safe and affordable housing. Thus, we need your continued support NOW more than ever!
The roller coaster will continue to speed up and down, while swerving in different directions. But if we stick together as before, we can emerge victorious. Are you ready to get back on board the train with us?
Never before have small property owners faced so many threats coming out of Beacon Hill.
From defeating rent control to fighting onerous mandates that would have made it impossible to run our businesses, SPOA has been front and center through all the ups and downs this legislative session, working hard, testifying on Beacon Hill, and playing a critical role advocating for you.
Thanks to those who stepped up to support us, we are happy to report that the 193rd session of the Massachusetts Legislature was one of our most successful ever!!!!! Your phone calls, emails, and face to face meetings with your elected representatives made a BIG difference.
The dust is still settling, but here are some highlights:
1. We played a leading role raising the alarm against efforts to reimplement rent control. In 1994, SPOA successfully led the referendum fight to rid the scourge of rent control from Massachusetts, before preventing its return several more times during the following years. Defeating rent control will always be our first priority.
2. We helped defeat a mandatory “right of first refusal” law, otherwise known as TOPA (Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act), that would have interfered with your right to buy and sell rental property.
3. We put the brakes on a bill that was sailing through the House that would have made it practically illegal to use credit reports to screen prospective tenants without property owners facing 93A laws as a result.
4. We joined a coalition of real estate groups to kill “transfer taxes” on residential and commercial real estate sales — even though everyone predicted at the start of the session that a new sales tax on property was a sure thing. We proved them wrong!
5. We defeated a Senate initiative that would have forced owners to pay broker fees.
6. We went to the state house and testified in support of a new law that will create more accessory dwelling units (ADUs), which will give our members the opportunity to provide more affordable housing options to those who need it most — all without government intervention.
7. Although we are not happy about any type of record sealing, the legislature also passed a more moderate version of eviction sealing that was negotiated with the Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB). Although this bill is not perfect, it is more reasonable than the initial version that would have had dire consequences for property owners and tenants, while hindering the ability to use the tools needed to screen tenants.
8. At the end of the session, we were on red alert, pushing back on Mayor Wu's proposed tax hike on commercial properties. Her circumvention of Proposition 2½ fortuitously died in the Senate. But she still persists in trying to pass it through the Senate, while disparaging the officials who have tried to keep her and her radical plans in check.
It is important to remember our testimony at the state house on January 18, 2024, when we swam in hostile waters opposing the proposed transfer tax. But we persisted in calling for property owners to be included at the table to increase the supply and affordability of housing. This shows that determination, backed by logic, can change minds!
While there is much to celebrate, we can't stress enough the importance of your involvement and the need to donate to SPOA. We also need all of you to help SPOA recruit more members, in order to strengthen our voice further.
We were successful this session because we were in the thick of the fight. Our experienced lobbying team were on the ground helping us and our members attend countless meetings and hearings — talking to our legislators to advance our cause.
As always, we have continued to update you about pending legislation through our regular email updates. In addition, we bring you monthly installments of our newsletter and more episodes of our podcast, SPOA Housing Policy Series, in which we discuss important housing issues with a variety of panelists, including small property owners and their attorneys, real estate experts and advocates, government officials, people running for office, and news media reporters. We also continue to give our own interviews with the media and to have our own articles published in the mainstream press.
While this work is significant, the fact that we are volunteers highlights the need to increase the support and the donations that we receive from all of you. It's our pleasure to fight for your property rights and the housing industry in Massachusetts, but we can't do it without your help!
It is absolutely critical to continue our recent momentum in building a stronger movement!
Once again — despite our success this legislative session — we know that the other side will re-emerge to push even harder for the same anti business policy proposals that will harm the preservation of existing housing, and its stakeholders, in Massachusetts. So we need to be prepared!
Please encourage other owners, as well as like-minded people who seek a fair and level playing field in housing, to join us and to donate now! You can write your check to “SPOA, Inc.”and send it to 840 Summer Street Boston, MA 02127. Or you can donate online at www.spoa.com/join
Please consider donating one of the following amounts listed below, or whatever you can afford.
$250 $500 $1,000 $2,000
On behalf of everyone at SPOA, thank you for helping us achieve positive results during this legislative session. Now it's time to get back on board the train to continue the good fight. Please get on board with us now — and bring others with you.
Sincerely,
Allison Drescher
President, SPOA
Amir Shahsavari
Vice President, SPOA
P.S. Please remember to donate to SPOA today by contributing $250, $500, $1,000, $2,000, or whatever you can afford. If you would like to help us recruit more members or volunteer, please contact Amir Shahsavari at askspoa@gmail.com to discuss further. Thank you again!
by Allison Drescher and Amir Shahsavari
