Greenfield City Council unanimously backs statewide rent stabilization resolution

Select Board · Meeting of May 20, 2026

Greenfield City Council votes 10-0 to support statewide rent stabilization after a two-hour public comment session. The unanimous roll-call vote Wednesday approved a resolution backing two Massachusetts bills — an act enabling cities and towns to stabilize rents and an initiative petition capping increases — with Councilor Sarah Brown as the lead sponsor. The council heard from more than two dozen speakers, including Kat Miller, who said she organized the city's first tenant union after facing a 40 percent rent increase, and Alan Constantine, president of the Landlord's Business Association, who warned stabilization would freeze rehabilitation investment.

Several councilors who had struggled with the vote cited the immediacy of tenant hardship as decisive. "It's not because renters have been doing anything wrong," said Councilor Jessica Gordon. The council also approved a 28-item FY27 capital budget totaling more than $4.6 million and unanimously banned second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides on all city-owned property.

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Source: the Select Board meeting of May 20, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.