Homes for All Mass, a coalition of affordable housing groups, submitted initial paperwork to put a rent-control ballot initiative before Massachusetts voters in November 2026. 

If successful, the proposal would cap yearly rent increases at 5% or the annual increase in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower.  

Industry groups, meanwhile, have vowed to fight the measure. Instead of rent control, the industry argues that regulatory cuts to spur development are the answer to Massachusetts’ housing-affordability problem. 

“Rent control is a failed, misguided policy that stifles housing creation and disincentivizes unit upkeep and maintenance,” Greater Boston Real Estate Board CEO Greg Vasil said in a statement. “Rent control supporters continue to resurrect ineffective rent control proposals year after year, offering tenants false hope that will not solve the problem. Government price controls will only make the housing crisis worse.” 

Massachusetts voters outlawed rent control in 1994 with the adoption of a ballot initiative banning the practice. Since then, numerous proposals have been put forward and failed, including a 2023 rent-control measure from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. 

Yesterday’s filing of the initiative petition with the Massachusetts Attorney General is the first step in the process of getting it on the ballot. If the attorney general determines the petition meets the state’s constitutional requirements, it is then certified, and backers have until mid-November to submit about 75,000 signatures to the Massachusetts Secretary of State.