In May, at a public hearing on the ordinance in front of the Board of Aldermen's Legislative Matters Committee, proponents of the changes far outnumbered opponents, and spoke at length about the difficulties of staying in Somerville as renters.

Reacting to the public support as well as the Mayor's backing, the Small Property Owners of America (SPOA) organized opposition to the increased tenant protections, sending out a mailing to 13,000 Somerville pr perty owners, and filling the local media with cries of "back-door rent control."

Property owners then packed a second meeting of the Legislative Matters Committee at the end of May, prompting Mayor Curtatone to consider changes to his proposal.

From July 2004 through July 2005, Somerville issued nearly 70 percent more condo conversion permits compared to the same period the year before, directly impacting the number of units available for rental.

From 2000 to 2005, the number of renter-occupied units fell 5 percent, while the number of owner-occupied units rose over 12 percent.

If the trend continues, more long-time Somerville residents will be forced to find housing in other cities as low- and middle-income families will not be able to find affordable rents and will certainly be priced out of the purchase market.

The Board of Aldermen will likely revise the proposed ordinance this fall, in response to the outcry about the rights of property owners to do whatever they wish with their property and their "nest eggs."

It will be interesting to see whether the Aldermen will hear about people's right to housing and to live in the community in which they grew up.

SPOA can be expected to produce another mass mailing. They have done so repeatedly in cities such as Boston, Quincy, Medford and Cambridge. They say they are able to do this without any financial assistance from large landlords or developers.

Despite its name, SPOA is not a large national organization, but is basically Skip and Lenore Schloming, operating out of a small, dilapidated tenement house they own on Inman Street in Cambridge.

Curtatone’s proposal isn’t rent control—that’s the problem

SPOA: “By controlling evictions strictly when it comes to rent increases, the ordinance would effectively impose ‘back door’ rent control.”

Fact: The proposed ordinance does not control evictions at all. Tenants with leases do not get rent increases until their leases are up. Without real rent control, tenants without leases may be evicted without cause.

Mayor Curtatone: “Rent control is illegal in Massachusetts and, even if it weren’t, I’d be the first person to fight it if it were proposed here in Somerville.”

Fact: Rent control is not illegal in Massachusetts. At least 22 towns already regulate rents and evictions for mobile home residents. All that is required for a city to adopt rent control is State enabling legislation.

Somerville already has a Board to administer its version of the statewide condominium conversion law. At the Board’s May 22 meeting, it granted 97 removal permits and 3 exemptions—every single petition it received.