[Yoast Breadcrumb – revise after publish]
Joint Statement on the SJC Decision Striking the Rent Control Ballot Initiative
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Joint Statement of the Easthampton, Greater Boston, Greenfield, and Northampton Tenants Unions and the Windfield Senior Tenants Association on the SJC Decision Striking the Rent Control Ballot Initiative
June 28, 2026 – The Easthampton Tenants Union, Greater Boston Tenants Union, Greenfield Tenants Union, Northampton Tenants Union, and Windfield Senior Tenants Association condemn the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s decision to prevent the rent control ballot initiative from appearing on the November ballot.Â
More than 157,000 Massachusetts residents signed petitions to place this question before voters. This initiative to place decision-making power with the people through a statewide vote was born from decades of escalating rents, displacement, and public demand for action consistently met with legislative inaction.
This ruling is a serious blow, but it has also made something unmistakably clear: tenants across the state are ready to fight for the right to affordable and livable housing. This rent control campaign has revealed the depth of the housing crisis, but also the growing power of tenants and working-class communities.
While we urge the Legislature to pass Bill S.1447, which would establish a pathway for municipalities to adopt rent stabilization measures, we also know most members of our legislature—84% of whom are landlords—are not on our side in this fight. The responsibility to continue pushing for change falls on all of us to enact collective pressure on our policymakers.
Tenants will have a voice in shaping our response to this crisis. Our power grows when we channel our fear and rage into organizing together. It comes from building solidarity with our neighbors and collectively bargaining with our landlords. It comes from protecting one another from evictions, sharing knowledge about our legal protections, and demanding that our right to live safely in our homes should not, and will not, be contingent upon a landlord’s profit margin. Tenants in Easthampton, Northampton, Greenfield, Hadley, and Boston are already demanding better, and we know there are more of us out there with strategies and skills to share.Â
Just as a building association is stronger than an individual tenant, our tenant unions are stronger together, and we remain committed to building local power and fighting for policies that ensure everyone has access to an affordable home. The Court may have blocked one path forward, but it has not ended this fight. Across Massachusetts, tenants are organizing, and we are not going away.
Solidarity forever,
Easthampton Tenants Union
Greater Boston Tenants Union
Greenfield Tenants Union
Northampton Tenants Union
Windfield Senior Tenants Association
