Based on a new Suffolk/Globe poll, it sure looks like a controversial rent control measure, assuming it gets on the statewide ballot next year, will easily pass. As I mentioned last week, it just resonates with too many people struggling to get by today in Massachusetts. Yes, rent control is a terrible idea for a number of rational reasons. But tell that to 20- and 30-something types living with their parents or with three roommates in crappy overpriced apartments with no hope of buying a home any time soon in this ridiculously expensive housing market. Tell that to seniors on fixed incomes and facing displacement because they can’t afford relentless rent hikes.

Anyway, I’ll let the folks at NAIOP and MAR make the Plan A arguments against rent control. I wish them luck. They’re going to need it. But maybe others should start thinking of a Plan B. I.e. what will the legislature do if the current extreme rent control passes? I’m a big believer that lawmakers  should abide by the wishes of referendum voters. But in this case, the current rent-control measure is so restrictive, so counter-productive to the state’s interests that it may need post-election tinkering by lawmakers – while at the same time abiding by the spirit of the law. 

Two Plan B suggestions pop immediately to mind: 1.) Make rent control optional in towns and cities, via local referendums, rather than compulsorily, as the current measure stipulates 2.) Permanently exempt all new housing construction from rent control (something even NYC does), not just for ten years, in order to promote the building of badly needed new housing.

Right now, Beacon Hill lawmakers seem shell-shocked by the sheer number of referendums headed for the statewide ballot next year, as MassterList reports. But someone at the State House better be thinking of a Plan B when it comes to rent control. The state is likely going to need it.