Holyoke Mayor Joshua Garcia joined with real estate business leaders in Holyoke Wednesday. He's endorsing a campaign to oppose rent control in Massachusetts.
A new coalition is hoping to beat back a ballot initiative that would cap rent increases at most properties to around 5 per-cent.
Garcia says he worries a cap on rent increases could end up decreasing property values, and ultimately lead to less tax revenue for the city. He also understands that renters are struggling.
"My fear, because there's so much concern — there's gonna be a reactionary response. And when we shoot from the hip, you don't get the quality of the outcome we're all looking for," he said.
Rent control advocates staged a last-minute protest of the campaign event on Race Street. Katie Talbot is with the group Springfield No One Leaves.
"I have just as [much] a right to dignified affordable housing as any homeowner, as any property owner. And the folks that continue to be in those spaces and talk this anti-rent control narrative are the ones who have figured out how to take advantage of this system and our need for housing," she said.
Talbot accused rent-control opponents of wanting to protect the profits of landlords, to the detriment of renters. In Western Massachusetts, around half of all renters spend more than a third of their income on housing.