Small-Scale Massachusetts Landlords Join Rent Fight

Editor’s Note: Para la versión en español de este artículo, visita El Planeta.

When debates over rent control flare up in Massachusetts, the spotlight almost always falls on tenants struggling to keep up with rising costs. But small-scale landlords say they’re feeling the squeeze, too.

On September 3, Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell allowed a ballot question that moves statewide rent control closer to the 2026 ballot. Support for the proposed law has grown quickly, with the “Keep Massachusetts Home” campaign collecting more than 124,000 signatures — significantly over the required number by the deadline.

The proposals would tie yearly rent increases to inflation and set a cap. Supporters say the goal isn’t to freeze rents, but to give families fair, predictable increases instead of sudden spikes. The law would limit any rent increase in a year to either 5 percent or the rise in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower.

Dorchester landlord and community organizer Antonio Ennis argues that stabilizing rent is also in the best interest of rental property owners.

Ennis, who owns fewer than four units and lives in the same neighborhood where he was raised, says he’s not interested in turning over tenants to earn more. “I want to see long-term tenants,” he said. For landlords like him, constant turnover isn’t just disruptive — it’s risky. “You have a mortgage to pay, and the mortgage company doesn't want to hear you don't have any tenants right now.”

Because his building is exempt, the law wouldn’t affect him. He can still raise rent, but says it should be predictable, not sudden.

Ennis says that predictable limits also help reinforce what responsible landlords should be doing: planning for the real costs of maintaining a home. “If a water heater breaks, you should have that money,” he said. “No one should be left without heat or hot water because the landlord didn’t plan for the basics.”

Tenants in the largely Latino communities of East Boston, Chelsea, and the North Shore tell Ennis that a climate of fear brought on by increased U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) can leave them in immigrant households hesitant about reporting unsafe living conditions. 

Community organizer Celly De La Cruz, who works with the nonprofit economic justice nonprofit, Lynn United for Change, said twice a week, the organization sees between 40 and 60 Lynn families — numbers unlike anything she has witnessed before. For years, Lynn United for Change has been helping residents navigate housing emergencies.

She said they’re all dealing with rent hikes they simply can’t afford. And when a new landlord buys a building, the increases can jump overnight. 

As a longtime Lynn resident, De La Cruz remembers when people used to move from Boston because it was more affordable. Now, she says, families are moving farther and farther — to Springfield, even to other states — wherever they can just barely afford it.

“The crisis is pushing our Latino families out of their neighborhoods,” she added.

Lynn resident Patty Ford collected signatures in support of the ballot question as a volunteer with the nonprofit. “I was recently almost evicted because of big rent increases; the first one was $300, the second one was $800, and the third one was $500 — all within four years,” she said.

Even in western cities like Springfield, where nearly half the population is Latino, most of those families rent, and housing already takes up too much of their income.

“People think Western Mass is cheaper because it’s far from Boston,” said Shanique Rodriguez, executive director of the Massachusetts Voter Table and a long-time resident of Springfield who immigrated from Jamaica. “But the cost of living is the same for everyone in Massachusetts. What changes is how much people earn.”

Springfield’s median renter household income is about $36,000, while the median rent is now around $1,200 a month. Advocates point to research showing that about 29 percent of local renters in Springfield are “severely cost-burdened,” spending more than half their income on housing — a rate similar to what is seen in the Boston area.

And instability has ripple effects.

When residents can’t stay long enough to get involved, neighborhoods lose political power and representation. Schools lose students midyear, disrupting learning. Local businesses lose customers. And when working families leave the state entirely, they take their wages and the tax contributions that come with them.

“Everything we depend on… is paid for by people living and working here,” Rodriguez said. “If those families leave, it affects all of us, not just them.”

Against that backdrop, the new rent control initiative has given voters in 332 of the state’s 351 cities and towns something they say they haven’t felt in a long time: hope.

Key sponsors of bill S.1447 / HD.4141, such as Sen. Pat Jehlen, Sen. Adam Gomez, Rep. Dave Rogers, and Rep. Sam Montaño,  hope to protect both tenants and small landlords.

But groups like the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance oppose bringing back rent control, calling it government overreach and warning it would stop new development. 

Landlord and homeowner Ennis disagrees.

“There’s too much money for developers,” he said. “You can still make a profit and support affordable housing. The real problem isn’t economics.  It’s money and greed on Beacon Hill.”

Supporters also say the plan would not stop new construction, since rent limits would only apply after a building has been open for 10 years.

The ballot initiative will be sent to the Legislature in January, and if legislators do not act on the measure by this spring, an additional 12,429 signatures must be collected by June to place it on the November 2026 statewide ballot.

Rosanna Marinelli is a multimedia correspondent for The Latino Newsletter and the News Editor at El Planeta. 

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As The Latino Newsletter reported, the Department of Defense issued a solicitation on December 9 for an estimated $32 million one-year contract for food for U.S. military personnel in and visiting Puerto Rico. The solicitation notice confirms that the food will go to ships supporting Operation Southern Spear, such as the largest warship ever constructed, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and the “special operations mothership,” the MV Ocean Trader. A list of customers included in the solicitation includes more than 20 ships, as well as the Fort Buchanan Army National Guard and a “Marine Puerto Rico Exercise.”

Offers for the contract will be due on January 12, 2026, and the inactive date is January 27. The supplier will be required to support all customers within 60 days of the award. Given the due date, the contract will extend until 2027. Like other Defense Logistics Agency contracts, the supplier must have the ability to support surges in demand brought about by military operations, as well as a “full scale military mobilization or a national emergency,” according to one of the procurement records associated with the solicitation.

The Latino Newsletter has compiled documents associated with the solicitation here.

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