This letter features reporting from “Renters Are in Revolt. This Tenant Union Plans To Get Them Organized” Isabel Evans, Marley Cogan, and Charlotte Alter

Dear Speaker Mariano,

My name is Yaxin Zhang, and I am writing as a Massachusetts student, a daughter of immigrants, and a resident of a neighborhood where rising rents determine who gets to stay, who gets to leave, and who gets evicted under cover of night. I am asking you to take urgent and decisive action on the Commonwealth’s escalating renter crisis by supporting and advancing S.1447 – An Act enabling cities and towns to stabilize rents and protect tenants.

Massachusetts is in a housing emergency. According to statewide data, we face one of the largest affordability gaps in the nation, with Greater Boston rents rising over 13% since 2019 and median one-bedrooms regularly exceeding $2,700. In Boston alone, rent now consumes well over 30% of median household income, meaning typical renters are officially “rent-burdened.” Evictions have climbed sharply across the state, and in my own community I have watched families—people I have known since childhood—forced out after sudden $400–$700 rent hikes. Some of my classmates’ parents now work two or even three jobs just to keep up.

This problem is not unique to Massachusetts; it mirrors a national pattern that has led to what Pulitzer Center-supported reporting has called a “renters revolt.” The Eviction Lab at Princeton recorded over 1 million eviction filings in just ten states last year, with some cities seeing nearly 80% increases between 2021 and 2022. The average U.S. rent has risen 18% in five years, and in 2023 the rent-to-income ratio crossed 30% for the first time in two decades, according to Moody’s. As the Pulitzer Center-supported story notes, renters now comprise one third of the U.S. population, and nearly half of all rental units are owned by for-profit corporations. Across the country, tenant unions have won right-to-counsel programs, halted mass evictions, and secured tens of millions in affordable housing funding—including in Kansas City, where KC Tenants has become a national model.

These facts speak to a national crisis, but here in Massachusetts, you hold the power to do something meaningful about it. As Speaker of the House, leader of the Democratic majority, and colleague to legislators such as Sen. Becca Rausch, Chair of the Joint Committee on Municipalities and Regional Government, you have the authority to prioritize legislation that empowers cities and towns to protect residents from displacement.

S.1447 is not radical. It is a local option, allowing municipalities—not the state—to determine whether rent stabilization is necessary. It aligns with your stated concerns about affordability threatening Massachusetts’s long-term economic stability. And evidence from cities nationwide shows that giving local governments tools to stabilize rents reduces evictions, preserves community continuity, and prevents homelessness, all while allowing responsible development to continue.

I am asking you to co-sponsor, champion, and bring S.1447 to a vote, signaling that Massachusetts will not allow working families to be priced out of their own communities. My neighbors, my classmates, and my own family deserve a state where staying housed is not a privilege.

Thank you for your leadership, and for considering the urgency of this moment.

Sincerely,
Yaxin Zhang

Yaxin Zhang is a senior at Arlington High School with a deep interest in economic equity and entrepreneurship. At school, she serves as both president of the Business & Finance Club and founding member of the Credit For Life Fair Committee, helping to organize Arlington’s first experiential financial literacy program for over 400 juniors. Beyond school, Yaxin works to expand access to financial education across Massachusetts through legislative advocacy, peer-led curriculum, and youth entrepreneurship—three pillars that her nonprofit, Project 57, has been working tirelessly towards since February 2025. In her spare time, Yaxin is an avid writer, debater, and proud member of the Boston startup ecosystem.

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