Wu Administration Misled Public On Details Of Plan: Local Rent Control Boards Are Back, Lifetime Leases Allowed, Small Housing Providers Unfairly Targeted
The Boston City Council just passed Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s controversial rent control measure by a 11-2 vote. Wu marketed her plan as some sort of reasonable compromise where rents would be capped between 6 – 10% annually. Her PR team also attempted to re-brand rent control as “rent stabilization,” which again implies something softer than traditional rent control, which Massachusetts voters rejected back in the 1990s. The problem with all this is the Wu administration flat out misled and lied to the public about the details of her rent control plan. The devil is always in the details, and when you actually read the bill (embedded below), it will become abundantly clear that this is the most extreme rent control policy ever proposed in Massachusetts history. That is not an exaggeration. This plan will wreak havoc in the Boston housing market. That is a fact, and I will explain why below.
The Return of Local Rent Control Boards Which Can Override and Lower Rent Caps
Mayor Wu in her letter transmitting her Rent Control Proposal states, “The maximum allowable rent increase would be set at the Boston Metro Consumer Price Index (CPI) + 6 percent, but in no event could rent for a unit exceed 10% in a year.” This is false. Hidden in the proposal (Sec. 2e-g) is a provision authorizing the return of local rent control boards, filled with political appointees, who have the authority to override the 6-10% cap, and lower the rent control cap on annual increases, or veto rent increases altogether. The bill provides: “The City may provide for fair return standards for the regulation of rent, which may including but are not limited to, changes to permissible rental rates based upon certain maintenance and capital costs and rapid increases in property taxes. . . The City may establish or…