NO, THE SKY is not falling.
That was the message on Wednesday from Wu administration officials who sought to counter the alarms being sounded by Boston’s real estate industry, which has launched a pricey ad campaign opposing Mayor Michelle Wu’s rent control proposal.
“People who are suggesting that growth will stop are misleading,” city housing chief Sheila Dillon said, defending the plan at a City Council hearing. “What the home rule does stop, however, is misbehavior that harms our residents.”
Wu’s proposal would limit annual rent increases to the Consumer Price Index for the Boston metropolitan area plus 6 percentage points, or 10 percent, whichever is lower. It would exempt owner-occupied dwellings of six units or less as well as all new construction for 15 years before and after the date of the legislation. The plan also doesn’t limit increases when apartments change hands, which tenant advocates worry would create an incentive to pressure renters out of units where rents are out of step with market rates.
Dillon’s testimony seemed aimed squarely at an announcement Tuesday by the Greater Boston Real Estate Board that it plans to spend at least $400,000 on a “Rent Control Hurts Housing” campaign to defeat the measure.
Board CEO Greg Vasil appeared at Wednesday’s hearing and warned that the effort to regulate rents would stifle housing production.
“Our biggest concern with this particular proposal is the impact it could have on production, because we believe that production will be our way out of this,” Vasil said of the regional shortage of housing.
To take effect, the proposal must be signed off on by the City Council and then win approval of the Legislature and the governor, a tall order given the reluctance of state leaders to embrace rent control following a 1994 statewide ballot question that outlawed the policy.
Later on Wednesday, the real estate board was joined by the conservative Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance in loudly opposing the plan. “Beacon Hill would be foolish to even consider it,” said spokesperson Paul Craney.
Wu’s team pushed back during the six-hour hearing on characterizations that the measure would put Boston out of step with its peer cities.
“We’ve certainly looked at states and cities that are doing quite well, though some of them have high housing costs, that do have some form of rent stabilization,” Dillon said. “It’s unique that a major city does not.” Though the city is constrained in its housing supply, she said, “we’ve crafted this so we would continue to see development happen in every neighborhood.”
Housing advocates and the progressive wing of the council argue that Wu’s plan doesn’t go far enough. But even the mayor’s more middle-of-the-road stabilization plan would face an uncertain future at the State House.
City Councilor Michael Flaherty, usually aligned with the council’s more moderate bloc, questioned whether it’s even worth the battle – and potential for bad blood – to hash out an agreement on a plan in the council if it’s facing a dead-end on Beacon Hill.
“With housing initiatives, the council gets them through, the mayor signs off and then they hit a brick wall heading up the hill,” Flaherty said in the hearing. “I don’t want to see us get all, you know, in a tizzy and divided and have a big free-for-all when, you know, if there’s not a likelihood of success.”
JENNIFER SMITH
FROM COMMONWEALTH
Price relief sought: Avangrid is a key player in Massachusetts efforts to decarbonize the electricity sector, but its projects face a number of hurdles. In a briefing for financial analysts, CEO Pedro Azagra said the company needs price relief on its proposed offshore wind farm and its transmission line to deliver hydro-electricity from Quebec to New England.
– Azagra said inflation, interest rate hikes, supply chain difficulties, and the state price cap have made its power purchase agreements for Commonwealth Wind inadequate. It wants to scrap the agreements and start over again with the state’s next offshore wind procurement. “Let me be clear,” he said. “While we are terminating our PPAs with Commonwealth Wind, we remain fully committed to our offshore business.”
– Azagra said the company still needs to resolve several legal issues with its transmission line to Quebec but is also interested in securing more revenue for the project. He provided few details. Massachusetts ratepayers are footing the bill for the project.
– Azagra said future electricity procurements should include the ability to tweak contract terms if economic conditions shift, a change that the Healey administration may be considering. Read more.
Good news, bad news: The good news is that new Orange Line trains are being shipped from a Springfield assembly plant after a seven-month hiatus to address manufacturing problems. The bad news is that one of the trains broke down – on I-495. (A flatbed carrying one of the trains disconnected from the truck pulling it in Chelmsford, disrupting traffic. The train resumed its journey Wednesday night, apparently with no damage.) Read more.
OPINION
Full system crashes: Boston defense lawyer James Doyle says the problems with the state drug labs aren’t confined to just a few employees. “They were full system crashes,” he says. Read more.
FROM AROUND THE WEB
BEACON HILL
Is the state’s old Taxachusetts nickname making a comeback in the wake of the millionaire tax being approved by voters? (Eagle-Tribune)
State officials have been in conversations with the owner of a vacant Newton hotel about its possible use as temporary shelter for homeless families. (Boston Globe)
Brookline will present an early test of the state’s new MBTA Communities zoning law. (Boston Globe)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
An outreach worker with the City of Boston’s troubled violence prevention program was arrested on gun possession charges. (Dorchester Reporter)
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu appoints Corean Reynolds the city’s first director for nightlife economy. (WBUR)
Joan Vennochi says Wu’s plans to remake the city’s development and planning systems are short on details of how they would bring more “equity” to the process. (Boston Globe) Wu made the case for her reforms on this recent episode of the Codcast.
Two weeks before the Boston Reparations Task Force sits down for its first meeting, the panel’s chairman, Joseph Feaster Jr., talks with MassLive about four key questions the task force will have to answer.
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
Lawmakers are looking to increase access to perinatal healthcare after the tragic case of a Duxbury mother charged last month with killing her young children before trying to take her own life. (MetroWest Daily News)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Pleasantrees closed its marijuana dispensary in Easthampton at the end of January and is trying to sell its facility in Amherst, prompting speculation that the market may be saturated. (Daily Hampshire Gazette) CommonWealth reported on the problem in mid-January, noting plummeting prices for marijuana were destabilizing the market.
EDUCATION
State education commissioner Jeff Riley is throwing his support behind a proposed Worcester charter school that would integrate the city’s museums and cultural institutions into its curriculum. (Worcester Telegram)
TRANSPORTATION
Would-be candidates to helm the MBTA are being scared off by the laundry list of problems plaguing the agency, the Boston Herald reports.
Beverly Mayor Mike Cahill says the city will oppose a developer’s plan to build 70 apartments on top of the MBTA parking garage because the housing would not come with parking. He opposes giving residents access to parking space inside the garage, which serves commuters. (Salem News)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
US Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey press the Department of Public Utilities on what’s taking so long to approve municipal aggregation plans, which allow municipalities to purchase electricity on behalf of their residents. (Eagle-Tribune)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
Berkshire County District Attorney Timothy Shugrue meets with women who feel the court system needs to take a more compassionate approach to those struggling with substance use disorder. (Berkshire Eagle)
After a federal repatriation inquiry on indigenous remains ended in January, at least 313 indigenous remains in Massachusetts will be returned to tribes. (Cape Cod Times)
MEDIA
NPR lays off 100 people, or 10 percent of its workforce, as advertising revenues shrink, particularly ads associated with podcasts. (NPR)