The head of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce said Sunday that rent control would not solve Massachusetts’ growing problem of keeping young professionals from leaving the region for cheaper pastures.

Chamber CEO Jim Rooney is speaking out against the measure just days after a coalition of housing groups filed plans to pursue a ballot question next year that would limit annual rent increases in Massachusetts to no more than 5%.

In an interview that aired on WCVB on Sunday, Rooney pointed to a survey his chamber commissioned at the end of 2023 that found 25% of its 823 respondents had plans to leave the region over the next five years.

“It’s a terrible idea,” Rooney said of rent control. “Owners don’t invest in the property … people stay in those units, they don’t turn over.”

The proposed ballot question from advocacy group Homes for All Massachusetts would limit rent increases each year to the cost of living in Massachusetts as measured by the Consumer Price Index, with a cap at 5%.

The policy would apply statewide, unlike past measures that would have allowed municipalities to opt in to rent control.

A campaign that looked to place a rent control on the 2024 ballot failed, as it fell far short of the required signatures for the question to advance in the process.

The Consumer Price Index reported a 2.9% cost-of-living increase in the United States in 2024, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Under the new ballot question proposal, landlords could not raise rent higher than 2.9% in 2025, according to Homes for All Massachusetts.

Rose Webster-Smith, director of the housing group Springfield No One Leaves, has said that working and middle-class people who do the jobs “that keep our state going should be able to afford a roof over our heads.”

“But right now, out-of-control housing costs are making it impossible for hundreds of thousands of families in Massachusetts to make ends meet,” Webster-Smith said last week. “We need rent stabilization to keep rent costs reasonable and predictable, so that renters can save and have a fair shot at the dream of owning a home.”

Boston continues to rank as the third most expensive city to rent in, behind New York City and San Francisco, with the median one-bedroom priced at $2,880 and two-bedrooms at $3,530 in July, according to fresh data from rental digital marketplace Zumper.

Nationally, the median one-bedroom rent is at $1,520 and two-bedrooms are $1,905, the report stated. The one-bedroom prices held steady between June and July, while the two-bedrooms very narrowly dipped 0.3%.

Bringing rent control back to the Bay State has been a battle advocates have fought since 1994, when residents voted to ban it.

Supporters of the measure say it could help renters who are struggling to keep up with surging prices in the state’s largest cities. Landlord groups have argued that rent control is not the right tool to curb crushing housing costs in Massachusetts.

“We are trying a lot of things that have a history of failing,” Rooney said. “The history of rent control, just read the data. It’s just so bad, and then you get inclusionary zoning policies.”

“We are trying everything,” he added, “when we should just try to incentivize the free market to build more housing, find ways to do that.”

Demonstrators rally to bring back rent control outside the State House. (Angela Rowlings/Boston Herald, File)