If the root problem is we need more housing to be built, aren't they already doing this in droves?

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The real estate industry is taking its fight against Mayor Michelle Wu’s rent control proposal directly to Boston voters, launching a six-figure campaign to defeat the policy before it has even been formally debated. The Greater Boston Real Estate Board, a lobbying and trade group, on Tuesday began a digital and mail blitz to persuade residents that rent control will aggravate the region’s housing crisis, not improve it. The organization is currently planning to spend just under $400,000, organizers said, with the possibility of pumping more cash into the initiative and even expanding it statewide should the proposal make it to the Legislature. The “Rent Control Hurts Housing” campaign will send direct mail to tens of thousands of Boston residents, deploy issue targeted text messages, and organize phone banks where voters can call City Hall to register their opposition with the mayor and Council. The effort is funded by GBREB members as well as national affiliates in the real estate industry, said CEO Greg Vasil. Industry will “do whatever we can” to oppose the policy, Vasil said, arguing that it would only exacerbate the region’s housing crisis. “It’s really important to go out and try to reach as many voters in the city of Boston to make sure that they fully become aware and understand what’s going on with this policy,” he added. The major opposition campaign is just another hurdle for a proposal that already faces a difficult political path. Rent control, which was banned by Massachusetts voters in 1994, is a lightning rod issue in local politics, and Wu’s plan set off contentious debate even before it was formally filed. Wu faces critics on both the left and right; some say her policy doesn’t go far enough, while others argue it should not happen at all. And she will need sign-off from the City Council, Legislature, and governor before it becomes law. The ad blitz is just the latest sign of growing tensions between Wu and the real estate industry, which has come out fiercely against much of her progressive housing and development agenda. Developers say that in a period of climbing interest rates and steep construction costs, they can’t afford the higher fees Wu has proposed imposing to fund affordable housing. Wu, who made rent control a major plank of her mayoral campaign, recently filed with the Boston City Council a proposal to cap annual rent increases at 6 percent plus inflation, with an overall limit of 10 percent in high-inflation years. It would exempt from that cap new construction for the first 15 years it is open, as well as small owner-occupied properties such as three-deckers. Wu says the proposal — which is relatively modest compared to versions in place in the nation’s other most expensive cities — strikes the right balance, protecting tenants from egregious rent increases without discouraging the production of desperately-needed new housing. And she has emphasized that rent control is just one of many tools the city wants to use to tackle the housing crisis. She is also pushing to boost construction, and has allocated more than $200 million in federal COVID relief funds to develop affordable housing and assist first-time home buyers. A 2021 poll of registered voters in Boston found that more than three-quarters support rent control “to prevent landlords from raising rents too much.” Rent control has important immediate impacts, helping keep vulnerable tenants in their homes. But in the long term, economists warn that it can have unintended spillover effects, driving up rents in uncontrolled units or pushing landlords to convert apartments into condos. More affluent tenants may scoop up scarce rent-controlled units, since there are no income requirements. The City Council is set to discuss Wu’s proposal at a hearing Wednesday, an early hurdle in its path to becoming law as councilors on both ends of the body’s ideological spectrum are skeptical of Wu’s pitch. If the proposal clears the City Council, it heads to Beacon Hill, where it will meet a Legislature that has rejected the policy in the past. Finally, it would require a signature from Governor Maura Healey, who has not commented on Boston’s proposal directly but said she supports local officials setting their own housing policies.