The rent is too damn high: how renters’ rights could be key issue in US midterms

‘Renter’ has become an identity for candidates to run on and housing affordability will be on local ballots With housing costs for working-class families steadily climbing across the US while billionaire fortunes soar to all-time highs, renters’ rights are becoming a defining policy in the upcoming midterm elections, tenant rights organizers say. In Massachusetts – where Boston consistently lands in the top five US cities for priciest rents – a proposed ballot question this November could overturn the state’s three-decade ban on rent control and cap annual increases at 5%, thanks to a coalition of three dozen housing, faith and labor groups. Continue reading...

Claire Wang · Thu, May 14, 2026, 8:00 AM
US news | The Guardian

The rent is too damn high: how renters’ rights could be key issue in US midterms

‘Renter’ has become an identity for candidates to run on and housing affordability will be on local ballots

With housing costs for working-class families steadily climbing across the US while billionaire fortunes soar to all-time highs, renters’ rights are becoming a defining policy in the upcoming midterm elections, tenant rights organizers say.

In Massachusetts – where Boston consistently lands in the top five US cities for priciest rents – a proposed ballot question this November could overturn the state’s three-decade ban on rent control and cap annual increases at 5%, thanks to a coalition of three dozen housing, faith and labor groups.

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