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Yesterday, Massachusetts state lawmakers heard hours of testimony for and against several proposals to lift the state’s ban on rent control.

The Baltimore City Council is considering changing its mandatory affordable housing ordinance. Under the new proposal, developers would be required to reserve a larger share of new units for low-income residents at below-market-rate rents.

A Colorado state lawmaker is sponsoring a bill to legalize accessory dwelling units (ADUs) statewide.

For more than three years, Los Angeles housing providers have been barred from raising rents, thanks to an emergency rent freeze implemented at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the City Council is considering whether to end the freeze or to extend it for another six months.

An effort to place a rent control question on the 2024 ballot collapsed, falling far short of the nearly 75,000 signatures needed to proceed. State Rep. Mike Connolly, who led the effort, plans to push to eliminate statewide rent control preemption through legislative channels, though state lawmakers have resisted such an approach in past years. […]

Over the past few months, Google, Facebook and Apple have pledged to invest a total of $4.5 billion in land and loans toward stimulating the production of affordable housing in California. Our article looks at how those efforts, laudable as they are, won’t amount to much unless the state enacts land-use reforms that make it easier and cheaper to build.

At a recent forum, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Jacob Day noted that the state legislature is unlikely to consider rent control. Day said rent control measures might not support the rise of such expenses such as real estate taxes and insurance costs, which could dissuade developers from entering the market. Day […]

The Los Angeles Times Editorial Board argues in favor of ending a rent freeze in Los Angeles that’s been in place since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. “The rent freeze has served its purpose, and it’s time to end it,” the editorial board writes. To effectively address housing affordability, they urged Mayor Karen Bass […]