FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

With three weeks to go until the November 22nd signature-gathering deadline, the Committee to Explore Tenant Protection Ballot Question, also known as the Rent Control 2024 Ballot Campaign, is announcing three new endorsements:

United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 9A

Harvard Graduate Student Union (HGSU)

Alliance of Cambridge Tenants (ACT)

The Rent Control 2024 Ballot Campaign is also backed by the Massachusetts Alliance of HUD Tenants, representing tenants in federally-assisted housing across the state, the Forbes Building Tenants Association in Jamaica Plain, and by Housing Is A Human Right, a housing justice nonprofit involved in successful rent control campaigns across the country.

The campaign is supported by lead petitioner and State Rep. Mike Connolly, State Senator Jamie Eldridge, Somerville City Council President Ben Ewen-Campen, Somerville City Councilor At-Large Willie Burnely, Jr., original petitioner and Cambridge City Councilor Quinton Zondervan, and over 500 other elected officials, community leaders, housing justice activists and volunteers across Massachusetts.

More information is available at www.rentcontrol2024.com.

United Auto Workers (UAW) Region 9A, Massachusetts Citizenship and Legislative Council, representing all UAW locals in Massachusetts, has voted to endorse the Rent Control 2024 Ballot Campaign.

"Here at UAW we are proud to endorse the campaign to lift the ban on rent control in Massachusetts. Every year we have more and more working people in our union who are forced to leave their communities because of skyrocketing rent. We fight for raises so that our members can live better lives, not so that landlords can funnel our gains directly into their pockets. We look forward to organizing the thousands of members we have across Massachusetts to lift this ban," said Dorothy Manevich, Chair UAW Mass. CAP Council and a renter in Somerville.

Members of the Harvard Graduate Students Union, HGSU-UAW Local 5118, voted to endorse the Rent Control 2024 Ballot Campaign at a recent General Membership Meeting.

“It’s really fantastic seeing labor support for rent control. Rent burden effectively halves our salaries. When we fight for higher wages, we aren’t fighting to give our landlords a raise. We aren’t simply trying to increase pay; we’re trying to improve everyone’s quality of life,” said Sinclair Emans, a member of the Harvard Graduate Students Union and a renter in Somerville. 

The HGSU endorsement was introduced by Emans and resolved that “organizing efforts be directed to have union members both sign the petition and volunteer to get signatures.”

Last week, a new UMass Amherst/WCVB poll found that rent control would pass as a ballot question in Massachusetts, with 64% of voters saying they would vote to lift the ban on rent control. It was also reported last week that a Priorities for Progress poll found that 65% of Massachusetts voters support lifting the ban on rent control. In September, our campaign published our own internal polling in Commonwealth Magazine, which found 65% support for our ballot question, and in March, a Northwind Strategies poll also found 65% support for lifting the ban on rent control across Massachusetts.

To advance to the next stage of the 2024 ballot initiative process, our campaign is working to deliver some 74,574 valid signatures to local election offices by November 22, 2023. Members of the public are encouraged to visit www.rentcontrol2024.com to get involved with our signature drive or to learn more about the proposal to lift the ban on rent control.

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