BOSTON, MA – December 5, 2025 – Vanguard News Group reported this week that Montgomery County, Maryland, has seen a dramatic decline in multifamily housing development since adopting rent control. New multifamily permits fell from 2,093 between January and August 2024 to just 84 during the same period in 2025. Other counties that did not adopt rent control remained steady.
From the Vanguard News Group article:
Multifamily building permits in Montgomery County, Maryland, have nearly vanished in the year after the county adopted rent control, raising fresh questions about how far such policies can go without choking off new housing supply…
… “Poof! Multifamily building permits have almost entirely evaporated in one of the nation’s most affluent areas — Montgomery County, MD,” [housing analyst, Jay Parsons] wrote, arguing that “there’s one clear driver… Rent control.” …
… He noted that the county did exempt new construction from rent control, but only for 23 years, and said that limitation is out of step with how long-term investors think about apartment buildings and resale values. In his view, the looming expiration date makes properties less attractive to future buyers, reducing values and discouraging new projects…
…Parsons believes the lesson is clear. He called rent control “bad policy proven (by countless academic research studies) to backfire on the very people it’s intended to protect,” and argued that “the best, most effective and most proven solution: Build, build, build.”
Massachusetts is facing a severe housing shortage. The proposed 2026 rent control ballot question in Massachusetts would create the most restrictive rent control program in the entire United States and force it on every municipality in the Commonwealth.
The decline in new housing permits shown in Montgomery County – despite a 23 year exemption for new construction, more than TWICE what is proposed in Massachusetts – is a case study in what happens to development when rent control policies are enacted – stalling new projects and shrinking housing supply – even when new construction is “exempt.”
Instead of policies such as rent control that will halt new development and harm the existing housing stock, Massachusetts should focus on proven solutions to increase supply and improve affordability: expanding multifamily permitting, advancing transit-oriented development, reforming restrictive zoning, and strengthening targeted rental assistance.
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Contact
Conor Yunits
Chair, Housing for Massachusetts
(857) 276-8479