Cambridge residents show their support for rent control at a Cambridge City Council public forum yesterday. Advocates of rent control are pushing for it to be on the ballot in the November citywide elections.

Dozens of Cambridge residents clamored for a new rent control measure at a packed City Council meeting yesterday, despite persistent arguments by the measure’s opponents that it would never pass.

Rent control—which establishes limits on the rates landlords can charge tenants—was one of the most divisive issues in Cambridge politics until the practice was abolished by the state in 1994.

But now, a citizen’s group in Cambridge is fighting for its return, arguing that it would increase diversity and affordable housing.

About 7,000 people signed the group’s petition, according to campaign director Karen Hoerst. Of those signatures, almost 5,000 were certified by the city’s Election Commission.

The Massachusetts Homeowners Coalition, which hopes to keep the rent control issue off the November ballot, said 1,500 of the group’s signatures aren’t valid, according to Hoerst. The election commission will decide at a hearing tomorrow whether to accept the signatures.

Before it takes effect, the rent control measure must get on the ballot, win the support of one-third of all Cambridge voters, and then pass the State House—a series of obstacles that observers said are likely insurmountable.

The city council can also vote before Sept. 30 to send the petition directly to the State House without putting it on the ballot.

Several members of the council said yesterday that they did not support the petition, saying it was better to focus on other affordable housing programs than to debate a petition that is unlikely to pass at the state level.

“We will revisit old divisions for an initiative that has little or no chance,” Councillor Anthony D. Galluccio said. “I feel that this is an irresponsible initiative. I feel that it has little likelihood for success.”

Several other councillors agreed with his reasons for not supporting the petition.

“I do not think it’s one that we should be spending our time on,” Mayor Michael A. Sullivan said.

Calling herself a “firm supporter of rent control,” Councillor E. Denise Simmons was the only member of the council who spoke in favor of the petition going on the ballot.

“This petition is the voice of the citizens,” Simmons said. “Whether we like rent control or not, everyone has the right to have their voice heard.”

The councillors’ remarks were met by loud responses from the packed public seating area, where supporters of rent control grouped together on one side and opponents on the other.

At one point, Councillor Kenneth E. Reeves ’72 said, “The legislature is not going to sign this,” and one woman shouted, “We have a right to try!”