CLVU at the State House: We Re-Filed Our Rent Control Bill!
On Monday, CLVU met with legislators at the State House. Email your legislators to urge them to support rent control TODAY!
We’re sharing an exciting update about the campaign for rent control in Massachusetts! We (with Homes For All Mass) have re-filed our bill to lift the ban on rent control and allow cities and towns to enact strong rent control and just cause protections: An Act enabling cities and towns to stabilize rents and protect tenants S.1447 (Sen. Jehlen & Sen. Gomez) / H.2328 (Rep. Dave Rogers & Rep. Montaño)! This bill would repeal the ban on rent control and enable municipalities to enact local rent control ordinances to stabilize housing costs and prevent no-cause evictions. Email your legislators TODAY and ask them to cosponsor the rent control bill!
Use this email tool to email your legislator [ homesforallmass.org/act ]
Please be sure to personalize the email to include why you and your community need rent control and just cause protections! In your email, please ask them to cosponsor the bill. If they have co-sponsored, thank them and emphasize the importance of pushing the bill in the State House.
Look up your legislators here by address.
Check below if your legislators have signed onto the rent control bill yet this session:
Read our new fact sheet about the bill available in 10 languages!
CLVU Heads to the State House for Rent Control
On Monday, CLVU members joined with allies from Homes For All Mass, SEIU 509, Boston Teachers Union, Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and dozens more movement organizations from across the state to meet with legislators and urge them to sign on to support this new rent control bill S.1447 / H.2328. Annie Gordon of Fairlawn Tenant Association spoke about the recent Fairlawn Tenant Association win and how rent control could have helped her and her neighbors, and why Boston and all of Massachusetts should have the option to enact rent control.
“Rent control would have prevented years of struggle for Fairlawn tenants before our victory – and our State Legislature should pass it to help the thousands of residents like us who are in similar situations across Boston and Massachusetts!” – Annie of Fairlawn TA. Watch the video of Ms. Annie speaking at the legislative briefing on why we need rent control in MA above!
See more photos below of the legislative briefing and of CLVU members preparing to meet with legislators to sign on to support the bill. We know at least one legislator signed on while our members were meeting with them!
This was also a new experience for some CLVU members and organizers who had never before met with their legislators in person to talk about rent control or any issue. “It was my first time doing anything like this, and I knew I wanted to head to the State House with City Life to talk about rent control to our legislators. I’m so glad I went, and we had one legislator sign on while we were there.” — CLVU member Derwin G
SAVE THE DATE: National Rent Control Day of Action on May 20!
Save the date for a rent control action for Tuesday, 5/20: Right to the City National is organizing a National Rent Control Day of Action, as part of a translocal rent control campaign coordinating across rent control campaigns across the country. CLVU will be participating as a member of both Homes For All Mass and Right to the City National. Sign up for CLVU action alerts to get more information soon about a local action in MA! And look for an op-ed from the Fairlawn Tenant Association about why we need rent control on The CLVU Bulletin next week.
Tell us why you think we should lift the ban on rent control in MA in a comment below, and don’t forget to email your legislators today!