Mobile Park Rent Control Bill Sees Lack of Action in State Legislature

Members of Easton's mobile home community could see a major setback in their quest for rent control if action isn't taken soon.

The Easton Board of Selectmen voted earlier this month to draft a letter to Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo, urging him to push through legislation that would establish rent control at Easton's mobile community.

Easton voters supported the bill during the and supported the creation of a rent control board at the

A board cannot be established, however, until rent control in Easton is passed in the state legislature.

The bill is one of approximately 90 bills that has stalled in the House's Committee on Third Readings. Lack of action by July 31 would mean the session would be over and the process would begin again.

The Committee on Third Readings lacks a chairperson, and currently no upcoming hearings are scheduled.

"The problem with resubmitting it is you have to hold a town meeting about this all over again," Community Planner Tim Harrigan said at a June 4 Board of Selectmen meeting. "This is upsetting because we had a town meeting about this."

Harrigan said Easton's delegation, including State Senator Brian A. Joyce, and State Reps Christine Canavan and Geraldine Creedon have all supported the legislation, but little can be done with no chairperson for the House's Committee on Third Readings.

"It’s upsetting that something like that would happen and we’d have to go through the whole process again," Board of Selectmen Chair Colleen Corona said earlier this month. "This whole group thought they found a solution and now it’s been sitting in the state legislature."