The Cambridge Housing Justice Coalition believes our city should prioritize meeting the housing needs of low-income and moderate-income residents. We look to solutions that best provide affordable housing to these populations. Over the past two years, we have fought for city-funded housing vouchers to support Cambridge’s most vulnerable residents.
On June 2, we succeeded. The City Council and city manager agreed to a $6 million voucher program to house 42 mixed immigration-status households, 25 shelter residents and 128 formerly unhoused residents. This is the start of a municipal voucher program that we hope will be expanded in subsequent years to stably house more at-risk households in various forms of housing, including inclusionary housing.
About the policy order
At the June 2 meeting, the council and city manager agreed to a $5 million free cash appropriation for a federal grant stabilization fund, as well as a $1 million fiscal year 2026 budget increase for the creation of a housing voucher program. This was in response to a May 12 policy order by vice mayor Marc McGovern and councillors Ayesha Wilson, Sumbul Siddiqui and Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler calling for the creation of such a program, the extension of the Rise Up Cambridge direct-payment program, and the continued operation of the Transition Wellness Center shelter for the unhoused. The $5 million federal grant stabilization fund will use $1 million to help 42 mixed immigration-status households; the remaining $4 million, if necessary, will help 128 formerly unhoused households who are at risk of losing their housing. The city voucher program will house 25 shelter residents in a yet-to-be-determined process administered by the Cambridge Department of Human Services in partnership with the Cambridge Housing Authority.
Because of the uncertainty created by potential funding cuts to housing assistance of all kinds by the federal government, including Section 8 project and tenant-based vouchers, it is imperative to start thinking about possible alternatives.
When federal funds are lacking, the city needs to step up and support housing security, which especially affects immigrant and unhoused residents. This policy order is a first step toward providing housing support and housing security.
Proposed voucher programs
Cambridge residents and groups, including the Cambridge Housing Justice Coalition, have long advocated for the creation of a housing voucher program. In 2024, this took the form of the coalition’s citizen proposal to amend the city’s Affordable Housing Trust to allow it to fund project-based vouchers in inclusionary housing.
Cambridge’s Community Development Department has also been exploring the potential for a housing voucher program for many years. At the Housing Committee meeting on Oct. 15, CDD proposed a housing subsidy pilot. The proposed pilot would have allocated $1 million for a tenant preservation subsidy and funding for households not eligible for federally funded housing vouchers.
The creation of the voucher program is the first time the city has allocated funds to subsidize housing by creating vouchers, and marks the beginning of a process to expand housing support for at-risk community members. The manager said during council meetings that this would be permanent funding.
Building on success
We need the city to allocate vouchers for unhoused residents as quickly as possible, equitably administer the new voucher program and envision expanding the program as inclusionary and other types of housing are built.
Many of the residents of the former Transition Wellness Center at Spaulding Hospital have yet to find desperately needed permanent housing. The rapid administration of these 25 vouchers would be of great assistance.
In addition to creating a voucher program, applicants must be treated with dignity. They need adequate time and case management support to find a place to stay and should have documentation requirements that are as minimally invasive as possible. This is not always the case in existing programs, and it is imperative that the new program be different.
The multifamily zoning passed by the council in February will create hundreds of units of inclusionary housing by 2030. While CDD reports that more than 40 percent of existing inclusionary units house low-income households with federal vouchers, additional funding is needed to maintain opportunities for people making below 50 percent of area median income as more units are built. This is an opportunity for an expanded Municipal Voucher Program to serve low-income residents. Funding sources, such as renewing agreements with Harvard and MIT on their payments in lieu of taxes, could cover this.
Vouchers are not enough
To make Cambridge a truly affordable city for many kinds of people, we need a range of new approaches to developing affordable housing, including Social Housing and Community Land Trusts. The coalition has a committee devoted to social housing and has formed the Cambridge Community Land Trust.
To make your voice heard and help us develop housing alternatives that work for everyone in this wonderful city, we invite peope to learn more about and join the Cambridge Housing Justice Coalition.
Kavish Gandhi, Banti Gheneti, Trudi Goodman, Khalida Griffin and Stanislav Rivkin for the Cambridge Housing Justice Coalition
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Thanks to all who made this possible; and for the creative suggestions as to how we can reduce/eliminate housing insecurities as we move forward.
Again, THANK YOU!