Rent Control Debate Begins to Heat Up

Rent control activists are wasting no time arguing their positions in the wake of a Supreme Judicial Court ruling that a statewide referendum on the issue is legal.

Denise A. Jillson, president of the anti-rent control Massachusetts Homeowners Coalition, said much of the group's publicity push is still in the planning stages.

But both proponents and supporters of rent control are beginning to move--and the stakes are high in Cambridge, which is one of only three municipalities in the state in which rent control is legal.

Jillson said in an interview yesterday that all strategies are tenuous because the group is still in the midst of fundraising.

But the fundraising, she said, is going well.

Several area rent control proponents did not return calls yesterday.

Jillson said that even though the vote on rent control directly affects just Boston, Brookline and Cambridge, citizens all over the state are signing on to the cause.

"We're targeting anybody who's interested," Jillson said. "anybody who's fair-minded."

She said only a fraction of her funds have come from citizens in the three municipalities.

"That's going to have to happen if it's going to be a truly grass roots campaign," Jillson said.

Jillson told of one elderly couple in Ludlow who sent in a $10 check because they "felt it was outrageous that the government interferes with private property," Jillson said.

But Jillson said voter interest outside the Boston metropolitan area shouldn't come as any surprise--about 75 percent of those who signed the petition bringing rent control to a referendum came from outside the area, she said.

And both sides are out raising not only funds but awareness.

Rent control activists and supporters have done several television programs on WRKO. Just yesterday afternoon, Jillson did a debate on Fox-25 television that will air in a few weeks. And Jillson and Massachusetts Tenant Union head Pam Bender have already squared off on rent control.

But the debate over Question Nine will really heat up only when temperatures cool and election season draws closer, Jillson said.

The Supreme Judicial Court ruled on July 14 that a referendum on rent control does not violate the "home rule" provision of the state constitution. The home rule clause guarantees the right of individual communities to make decisions for themselves.