NEW BEDFORD — When the City Council decided to ask voters about rent control last month, it started a debate.

Councilor Shane Burgo, who introduced a ballot question on rent control, says the city needs a way to control drastic rent increases. Meanwhile, business and real estate leaders have come out against the proposal  — they say similar policies have failed in other cities, only making the housing crisis worse.

So, The Light reviewed decades of research on cities that have tried some form of rent control to find out how it might affect New Bedford’s housing market.

The term “rent control” refers to laws that limit what landlords can charge their tenants. When these laws allow for minimal rent increases, they are sometimes called “rent stabilization.”

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Research shows that rent control can reduce the supply and quality of rental housing, depending on how landlords react. It could also cost the city in revenue and resources, while benefiting renters who don’t need assistance. But there’s evidence that tenants could save money and avoid displacement.

The question potentially headed for the November ballot will ask: “Should the City of New Bedford adopt an Ordinance stabilizing rents, in order to prevent displacement in the local housing rental market?”

The ballot question is non-binding, so even if a majority of voters check “yes,” the city won’t have to do anything. And state law bans cities from enacting their own rent control laws, so New Bedford would need to get permission from the state Legislature through a home rule petition. Boston has submitted a petition, and Somerville is moving toward doing the same.

There is a chance that Boston’s home rule petition for rent control will fail, putting New Bedford in the awkward position of asking the Legislature for something that lawmakers already denied the capital city. But the risk doesn’t deter Burgo. In fact, he thinks that if Boston’s petition fails it will be even more important that New Bedford joins with other cities pushing for rent control, so legislators will be pressured to allow it.

“They need to see the political will to push for this,” Burgo said. “They need to be able to see that this is something that’s going to be popular among voters.”

Last month, New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell vetoed the City Council’s move to put the question on the ballot. He thinks rent control would only make the city’s housing crisis worse. In a letter to the council, he said that the less profit landlords can make, the less they will want to build and rent out properties here. That will reduce the supply of rental housing, the very problem that sparked the housing crisis.

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Mitchell said his office has already received calls from developers who are concerned about the ballot question. 

Councilors originally approved the ballot question with a 9-1 margin, so they could override the mayor’s veto. That could happen as soon as April 27, at their next meeting.

Burgo said he introduced the ballot question after hearing of cases where people’s rent doubled, for example going from $800 to $1,600 a month. He sees that as price gouging, which rent stabilization could address.

“Developers are here to make money, and I understand that,” he said. “But at the same time too, I want my residents — our residents — to be protected.”

The question itself is vague, and that’s on purpose, Burgo said. He hopes that the question will spark conversations about whether rent control is right for New Bedford, and what such a policy should look like. 

Burgo wants to make it clear that he isn’t seeking a law that would put a hard cap on how much landlords can charge. He envisions a rent stabilization policy that would limit the amount landlords can raise the rent within a given time period. He hasn’t given a target or range of how much that should be because he doesn’t want voters to feel like they’re voting on a particular plan, he said.

Burgo may be at odds with the mayor on rent control, but the councilor still supports the comprehensive housing strategy that the administration announced last month. The 22-point plan includes initiatives to attract developers, revamp vacant housing, and provide aid to homeowners and renters. Burgo sees rent control as just one more way to combat the city’s housing crisis.

“It’s definitely not a silver bullet,” he said. “It’s really just another tool to be able to help keep people in their homes and keep rents affordable for people who have lived here all their lives.”

Most economists aren’t big fans of rent control. 

“The experience of Cambridge and other cities suggests the results of those policies can have unintended consequences,” said Mike Goodman, a public policy professor at UMass Dartmouth. “Regulating the prices is an understandable instinct, but any step in that direction should be carefully considered.”

Greater Boston’s rent control policies were enacted in the 1970s and lasted until the state Legislature repealed them in 1994, providing researchers with years of data. Economists have also studied rent control in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New Jersey and other places.

Here’s what the research tells us about what could happen if New Bedford tries to regulate rents.

Rent control keeps rents low and prevents displacement.

Multiple studies in various cities have shown that rent control did successfully keep rents low in regulated units.

“What’s the huge benefit of rent control for the renter? It’s certainty where they’re going to live, it’s certainty in price,” said Christopher Palmer, an economist at MIT. “People might really really value that.”

Tenants tend to move less often under these policies. A 2019 study of San Francisco showed that people living in rent-controlled apartments were more likely to stay at their address, and even if they did move, they were more likely to stay in the city.

This suggests that people weren’t being displaced by rising rents. Housing advocates say that’s important because there are benefits to long-term housing stability. When you live in the same neighborhood for a long time, you have relationships with your neighbors. You have steady access to educational and professional opportunities. Those factors aren’t easy to take into account when you’re just analyzing dollars and cents.

But there’s a flipside to people moving less. Economists have pointed out that artificially low rents could incentivize people to stay in an apartment that doesn’t fit their needs. For example, a married couple might hold onto a three-bedroom apartment after their kids move out because it’s just so cheap. Meanwhile, a young, growing family might find themselves cramped in a one-bedroom because older couples are taking up the larger apartments.

Rent control might make landlords less likely to maintain and improve their properties, but local policies could help.

Rent control limits cash flow for landlords, which means they have less money on hand to repaint walls or fix faulty plumbing. In Cambridge, this was a problem.

“Rent control clearly reduces maintenance,” said David P. Sims, an economist at Brigham Young University who has studied rent control in the Boston area.

One of Sims’ studies found that apartments were more likely to have maintenance issues under rent control. The policy didn’t seem to have an effect on heating or electrical problems (landlords can be fined for those), but aesthetic issues like holes in the wall or loose railings did go unaddressed more often.

Palmer, the MIT economist, said that even simple improvements like installing new countertops were a challenge. Landlords wanted to raise the rent to pay for them, but they had to go through the city first.

“If you were doing a renovation, you could apply for a special allowance, but it was going to be hard for you to do that paperwork and go to the hearing and make the case,” he said. “The bureaucratic hurdle was high.”

The 2014 study Palmer co-authored showed that permits for major building improvements in formerly rent-controlled buildings jumped when the policy was repealed, a sign that landlords were putting off that work.

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But studies of other cities didn’t find the same issues. Rent-controlled apartments in Washington, D.C. were actually less likely to have maintenance problems than non-controlled apartments, a 1990 report found. The proportion of rental units in the district that had maintenance issues actually decreased after rent control was implemented there, according to the report.

A 2007 analysis of cities in New Jersey also found that rent control didn’t have a significant impact on maintenance. The study included 76 cities that had implemented rent control and looked at plumbing problems as an indicator of delayed maintenance.

One difference between Cambridge and the other cities is the restrictiveness of their policies. Cambridge kept rent increases well below inflation and only made special exceptions, but researchers described the New Jersey and D.C. policies as more moderate and noted that they even included incentives to keep up with maintenance.

Other researchers have suggested that local policies bolstering code enforcement and allowing landlords to increase rent for property improvements could address maintenance issues.

Rent control could reduce the supply of rental housing, though local restrictions can limit the losses.

When landlords feel like the profitability of their rental properties is threatened, they might choose to stop renting them out. That would reduce the number of apartments on the market and make it even harder for tenants to find a place.

“People actually try to remove rental units from the housing market,” Sims said. “They try to make them condos, they try to put family members in, anything to take them off the market.”

The 2019 San Francisco study found that rent-controlled buildings were more likely to be converted into condominiums or redeveloped to get around the regulations. That contributed to a 15% drop in the amount of rental housing. The researchers say that the scarcity this caused likely increased rents in the long-run.

Landlords also tried to convert rentals to condos in Cambridge, but the city had restrictions that made it hard to do. Palmer found that conversions increased during periods when the restrictions were temporarily lifted, a sign that the rules were able to stop landlords who otherwise would have taken their units off the rental market.

It’s not clear whether rent control will scare developers away.

One of Mayor Mitchell’s main concerns about rent control is the potential that it will deter developers from building more much-needed housing in New Bedford.

But so far, studies on real-world rent control policies haven’t been able to show that they lead to a decrease in new development. Studies of Cambridge, D.C., and New Jersey couldn’t find a direct link.

Burgo isn’t afraid of scaring off developers. He points out that the city’s new comprehensive housing plan will help streamline the permitting process to make it easier for them to build here.

“What was stopping development before, when developers could double the rents if they wanted?” he said. “The real problem was the bureaucracy that was hogtying developers.”

Rent control will cost the city, and some benefits will go to people who don’t really need them.

Unlike other housing policies, rent control doesn’t target the people who need it most.

Tenants have to meet certain income requirements to qualify for housing vouchers or get into subsidized apartments. But all you need to do to get into a rent controlled apartment is convince the landlord to rent to you, so even people with high incomes can benefit from rent control — and studies show that they do.

“Many, many of the benefits tend to be captured by people that no targeted housing policy would award benefits to,” Sims said.

Meanwhile, implementing rent control isn’t free. Cities face costs for enforcing their policies. And if rent control decreases the value of rental properties by limiting their cash flow, that could put a dent in tax revenue.

The bottom line: Rent control has unintended consequences.

Even though rent control can keep rents low, the evidence shows that New Bedford might have to mitigate a drop in the supply and quality of rental housing. Economists say the city should keep those factors in mind.

“That’s the question for New Bedford to think about: How likely the unintended consequences will be?” Palmer said. “You might make the problem worse.”

When rent control was enacted in Greater Boston, the area was facing high demand for a low supply of housing — just like New Bedford is now. The research shows that rent control couldn’t fix that.

“The real problem was the cities were really attractive places to live and hard places to build housing in,” Sims said. “And rent control didn’t solve those problems; it just made the problems worse by taking rental units off the rental market.”

Rising rents may be hard on locals, Sims said, but they also attract developers to come and build more housing.

“It’s hard because in some sense, there’s this trade off,” Sims said. “Keeping things the same is great for the people there. In the long run, it’s hard for the community.”

Email Grace Ferguson at gferguson@newbedfordlight.org

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While multiple therapeutics are available to treat symptoms associated with epilepsy, researchers and patients have strongly emphasized the need for more holistic treatments that would address the condition as a whole. Although recently approved drugs can treat seizures more safely, they do not address the comorbidities patients suffer from. Several biotech companies and researchers are currently exploring medical devices and gene therapies to treat not only common forms of epilepsy but also rare diseases like Dravet syndrome.

Epilepsy is a highly variable condition, says Thomas Ferraro, PhD, a professor at Cooper Medical School in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Rowan University in Camden, New Jersey. It is associated with different types of generalized or partial seizures and specific, often rare, syndromes such as Dravet syndrome, Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (LGS) and Rasmussen syndrome.

Gene therapies are an attractive way to target the underlying genetic mutations, but conventional approaches cannot be used when targeting mutations for Dravet syndrome, forcing researchers to develop new avenues. Meanwhile, others are exploring the link between gene variations and differential responses to treatments.

At the same time, continued research into seizures remains crucial, as many available options have side effects and do not benefit all patients. About 30% of people with epilepsy don’t respond to available anti-seizure treatments, says Dr. Dario Englot, director of functional neurosurgery at the Department of Surgery and Engineering at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

A genetic treatment for epilepsy

Most treatments for epilepsy aim to treat seizures, which are the main symptom of this condition, Ferraro says. However, these are preventive treatments rather than cures, says Dr. Paul Carney, Director of Child Neurology and Epilepsy at the University of Missouri, Columbia. But now the goal of epilepsy research is to modify the disease, says Beth Dean, CEO of CURE Epilepsy, a US-based funder of epilepsy research. This is especially true in pediatric forms of epilepsy, where gene editing techniques such as clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) are becoming increasingly important, Ferraro says.

With recent advances in whole-genome sequencing, it’s becoming increasingly clear that rare epilepsies are largely caused by a single genomic mutation, Ferraro says. But while the community has already made significant strides in understanding epilepsy genetics, more needs to be done to understand which mutations cause certain disorders, says Laura S. Lubbers, PhD, CURE Epilepsy’s chief scientific officer (CSO).

In Dravet syndrome, the approach is to target the SCN1a gene, which has mutations that cause the condition, Ferraro explains. Because the disease is rare, it’s fortunate that the community has identified a genetic marker, writes Mary Anne Meskis, executive director of the Dravet Syndrome Foundation. But targeting SCN1a is a challenge in developing a treatment because of its size, says Carney. Traditional gene therapies use vehicles like adeno-associated vectors (AAVs), which in this case can’t carry the required payload, says Carney.

To counteract this, companies have devised various ways to target the gene. Stoke Therapeutics is working on an antisense oligonucleotide called STK-001. Instead of replacing mutated genes with functional copies, STK-001 promotes protein production in the healthy copy of the SCN1a gene. It’s a smart strategy because therapy can increase protein levels to normal levels, which can restore function, Carney explains, adding that in Dravet, one copy of the SCN1a gene is functional while the other has a mutation. Other approaches include Encoded Therapeutics’ early-stage therapy ETX101, which also works by increasing SCN1a expression.

Still, such efforts require funding, which remains the biggest challenge for research into Dravet syndrome, Meskis says. This means the patient community must drive seed funding for the initial research, she adds. Parents and carers will continue to play an important role in this area, says Dr. M. Scott Perry, director of the Genetic Epilepsy Clinic at the Jane and John Justin Institute for Mind Health at Cook Children’s in Fort Worth, Texas.

New developments in the anti-seizure pipeline

Genomic screens can also be used to hone the effectiveness of already available treatments. Ferraro’s work focuses on the connections between gene variations and different responses to drugs. While it’s not a cure, a genomic approach could help design more sophisticated drugs that can target specific signaling pathways, Ferraro explains.

Epilepsy shouldn’t just be seen as a condition with seizures, but one that causes other cognitive deficits, he says. Some patients suffer from cognitive dysfunction and comorbidities that affect their memory and mood, says Dr. Jacqueline French, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the US-based Epilepsy Foundation. Research into devices is also important as it would give patients more security about their lives, she adds. In addition, about a third of epilepsy patients have depression at the time of their diagnosis, she notes. Faced with these issues, the field needs new anti-seizure drugs that treat symptoms without exacerbating comorbidities, French says.

Some newly approved drugs have improved the situation. UCB’s Fintepla (fenfluramine), an anti-seizure drug for Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, is a recently approved treatment that has been associated with a lower than expected rate of sudden death.

In November 2019, SK Life Science approved Xcopri (cenobamate) for partial-onset seizures in adults. Since its approval, the use of Xcopri in this patient population has increased significantly, said Dr. Vikram Rao, associate professor of clinical neurology at the Weill Institute for Neurosciences at the University of California, San Francisco. While Xcopri is only a treatment for the more common epilepsies and not the rarer monogenetic ones, its approval has been described as something of a game changer, notes French. SK Life Science is a subsidiary of SK, a South Korean holding company.

There’s also interest in repurposed treatments like Fintepla for rare diseases, Carney says. GW Pharmaceuticals’ Epidiolex (cannabidiol), the first FDA-approved CBD treatment, is also a valuable addition, he adds. Epidiolex is approved for Dravet syndrome, LGS and tuberous sclerosis complex.

A multi-pronged approach

Although new treatments are important, a key area of ​​interest for patients remains improving the predictability of their condition. Citing a previous survey by the Epilepsy Foundation, French says patients overwhelmingly say that not knowing when they will have their next seizure is the most difficult aspect of their condition.

Medical devices can play an important role here. Based on the latest brain activity research, experts are getting better and better at predicting the likelihood of future seizures, says Rao. Spanish startup mjn-neuro sells a handset called mjn-SERAS that records brain activity and warns the user of high risk of seizures. In October 2022, mjn-neuro signed a commercialization agreement with pharmaceutical company Neuraxpharm Group to commercialize mjn-SERAS.

The Epilepsy Foundation has also made progress with its My Seizure Gauge project. The approach combines external devices like wearables like Fitbit and EEG patches with a seizure diary in a smartphone app, says French. A multi-pronged strategy is needed to treat epilepsy, says Dean. While finding a cure is the ultimate goal, the community must also focus on improving outcomes in the short term, she adds. New treatments are also needed for pregnant women, says French.

Lubbers repeats this strategy. “There is hope. It’s tough on all fronts. Families have a hard time. Researchers have a hard time. But in my life I have seen remarkable changes and evidence that there is hope and change on the horizon.”

Note: This article has been updated to correctly attribute Beth Dean quotes to her. An earlier version attributed their comments to another Cure Epilepsy representative.

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We made it! Grateful to the #CASenat for voting on # AB101 this morning and for the numerous coalitions and factions that have come together to make this bill what it is. #CAleg #ethnicstudies #diversifyournarrative @GENupUS pic.twitter.com/nlm8t8R0h7

– Jose Medina (@AsmJoseMedina) September 8, 2021

To arrive at their conclusions in San Francisco, the researchers examined the high school transcripts and college enrollment records of more than 1,400 high school freshmen between 2011 and 2014, including teenagers who were ethnicized because they were in eighth grade struggled academically. The researchers found that students enrolled in the ethnic studies class were 16 to 19 percentage points more likely to graduate from high school than their peers and 10 to 16 percentage points more likely to attend college.

The Anthropology course deals with issues of social justice, stereotypes and social movements in the USA between the 18th century and the 1970s. Many of the lessons are traditionally not covered in typical social science courses, such as the Native American Genocide in California.

While the report has been in the works for years, it doesn’t shrink from the reality that anti-racist doctrines got caught up in the national culture wars this year. It acknowledges that some ethnic studies programs have accused ethnic studies of offering nothing more than “politically charged indoctrination” promoting some form of “reverse racism” against white students.

But the debate over such teaching, loosely characterized under the umbrella of critical racial theory, is “quite dishonest” and politically motivated, Bonilla said. “The agenda that drives them forward” in ethnic college classes, she said, is a real conversation about the historical realities of racism in the United States.

Ethnic studies have been a sensitive issue in California for several years. In March, state education leaders approved a model ethnic study curriculum that had been in development for years and was accused of anti-Semitism, which encouraged the “awakened” left wing propaganda and sewed further racial segregation by teaching white children to feel guilty about past injustices . The curriculum controversy continues unabated. Earlier last month, three San Diego parents sued the state education department, accusing officials of violating the California constitution’s facility clause, which mandates separation of church and state, by including an Aztec prayer in the model curriculum. The model curriculum is not a mandate and only encourages the California counties to offer ethnic studies, but the new legislation may change that.

The latest research is a follow-up to a 2017 report that found positive short-term benefits for freshmen at high schools who enrolled in the city’s ethnic degree program. This report found that 9th grade students had better school attendance, better grades, and more classes than those who hadn’t enrolled on the course. To measure the long-term impact of the course, the latest study examines the educational outcomes of the same group of students during high school and college.

Thomas Dee, professor at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education and co-author of the study, praised the results of the previous study and said he was “never so surprised by a result” in his career. He quipped that “innovative curricula,” including the San Francisco ethnic studies program, were the “low-hanging fruit of educational reform.” The latest study, he said, further supports that assessment.

“I am still amazed and fascinated that we see the educational power of this type of culturally relevant education,” said Dee. While many historically underserved students “perceive their classrooms as hostile and threatening environments,” a course that enables them to see the world the way they do can change those perceptions with ongoing educational benefits, he said. Emily Penner, Assistant Professor of Education at the University of California, Irvine, also contributed to the report.

“Pedagogy that engages students who can nurture affiliation with school institutions has the ability to unleash their motivation,” said Dee. “And I think the fact that we’re seeing these sustained gains in particular is evidence of that.”

However, the researchers quickly highlighted the limits of their research and discouraged people from falling victim to the “general trope of the wonder weapon”. For one thing, it remains unclear how ethnic courses affect the educational outcomes of high-performing students. In addition, Dee said the ethnic studies teachers in San Francisco are highly qualified and motivated to teach the class.

“I sometimes worry that some kind of useless, inferior introduction to this curriculum isn’t going to produce similar results,” he added.

If California Governor Gavin Newsom, whose education policy is expected to play a key role in a September 14 recall vote, signs law requiring nationwide ethnic studies, it will be important that districts be given adequate time to develop robust programs and ensure that educators are properly trained.

“Teaching ethnic studies requires a particularly high level of professionalism on the part of teachers,” said Dee. “We ask teachers to go into the classroom and have potentially difficult, critical discussions with their students, and I think it takes really careful crafting to do this well.”

This article was written in collaboration with. released The 74. Sign up for The 74 newsletter here.

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