Senator Lydia Edwards’s housing advocacy sets her apart

Emma Platoff and Matt Stout’s article about the Legislature’s hostility to rent control was unfair to Senator Lydia Edwards. While certainly the issue of self-interest by legislators in considering the rent control proposal deserves close scrutiny, the article implied an equivalency between Edwards’s ownership of a home and one rental property and the vastly different circumstances of other legislators, such as one who owns rental properties assessed at more than $42 million.

Edwards, a former housing advocate, has supported measures to give tenants more rights and advocated for rental relief, particularly during the pandemic. Throughout her career, she has worked to empower residents of low-income neighborhoods in a variety of ways.

It was disappointing to see her framed as a potential opponent of rent control and lumped in with multimillionaire real estate owners without one mention of her advocacy. She has supported renters having a seat on the Zoning Board of Appeal in Boston; the Jim Brooks Act, which would have made it harder to evict tenants; and expanding the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program. Some of her housing advocacy has been vehemently opposed by landlords.

Many of her initiatives have been reported on by the Globe, making these omissions from the article even more disappointing.

Certainly owning a home gives Edwards a perspective from that point of view, but her previous advocacy sets her far apart from legislators such as the representative who worries about rent control’s impact on his real estate “side business.”

REBECCA G. PONTIKES

Cambridge