Linda B. Levine, who owns two rent-controlled apartments on Mt. Auburn St., says rent control is uneconomical for owners, and hopes that either 1-2-3 or the accompanying City Council elections can turn the situation around.

"It isn't worth it to rent control. I'm losing money," she says. "If we don't get an Independent majority on the City Council...If they don't reform [rent control] so that I get a fair rent, I'm going to have to sell."

But Levine says her concern for the plight of frustrated would-be homeowners is also behind her support of 1-2-3.

"It would increase the number of home owners," Levine says. "There is a problem of affordable housing."

As for arguments that 1-2-3 is too drastic a change for the people who have lived in rent-controlled apartments for years, Fraser says that is simply not the case.

"I don't see that it will be drastic because I think the proposition is structured enough that the two-year requirement will preclude investment from making a direct or immediate impact on the situation," Fraser says.