Despite Boston Mayor Michelle Wu’s efforts to pass rent control in the city, she said Tuesday that she isn’t sure she supports an initiative that would put rent control on the statewide ballot.
During an appearance on WGBH’s Boston Public Radio Tuesday morning, Wu said that while she hadn’t yet sat down with state Rep. Mike Connolly, D-26th Middlesex, who filed the petition, she has familiarized herself with the proposed language and her worries rest not with the proposal itself but the process.
“There are really significant consequences to which moment you choose to launch a ballot initiative and if it doesn’t go well that’s it for some time,” Wu said. “I am concerned about whether or not there’s momentum for really the sustained campaign that will be needed at the ground level to carry this out.”
The proposed ballot question would give cities and towns the option to enact local regulations protecting tenants, including rent control. Connolly, of Cambridge, has also sponsored a similar bill in the state Legislature.
The ballot question was certified last month and, like with other potential ballot questions, supporters are now tasked with gathering and filing signatures from 74,574 voters by Dec. 6, after which it would be sent to the Legislature in January for consideration.
If the legislation is not enacted on its own, proponents must then gather another 12,429 signatures by July 3, 2024 for the question to be placed on the 2024 ballot.
In March, the Boston City Council passed a home rule petition to reinstate rent control in the city, but the measure still has not been taken up by the state Legislature, which would need to approve it before it is officially put in place.
Wu has long expressed support for rent control, and made it a central issue during her 2021 mayoral campaign.
She said Tuesday that despite her concerns, she has not yet made an official decision on what her involvement with the ballot question will be.
Massachusetts has not had rent control since 1994, when it was banned via another ballot question.
