![A sidewalk view of 19 Garden St., Cambridge, Mass., which is a multi-story brick apartment complex on a busy city street.]](https://rentcontrolhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Point-A-Joan-Shelzi-19-Garden-Street-Cambridge-Polaroid-475x475.png)
A good apartment could cost less than $1,200 per month.
In 1994, the New York Times wrote an article about the voter referendum that repealed rent control.
Senior citizen Joan Shelzi rented an apartment in what she called a “good neighborhood” in Cambridge.
Under rent control, she paid $579 a month ($1179 in 2023 dollars) in rent.
This is where she lived.
![A street-level photograph of the building that encompasses 70-75 Beacon Street, Massachusetts. It is a multi-story gray stone building with dark gray slate roof, and trees along the sidewalk.]](https://rentcontrolhistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Point-B-Joseph-Maffe-Beacon-Street-Apartment-V3-475x475.png){kind=tracking}
One Boston Common apartment was almost free.
In a 2003 New York Times article discussing the history of rent control, Boston landlord Joe Maffe reported that under rent control, his tenant’s rent on a Beacon Street apartment near Boston Common had been $302 ($615 in 2023 dollars).
This was a rate that had not changed for at least 12 years.
This is where he lived.
Absolute price locks provided substantial subsidy.
A 2009 paper by the American Institute of Economic Research reviewed all rent control papers then published.
Renters with price locks received substantial benefit.
Price locked apartments saved renters more than a quarter of their household’s income!