Cambridge Day does not endorse candidates or positions. Views expressed in this column are those of the writer.
My partner and I rent an apartment in a Cambridge building that is well over 100 years old. While it’s charming, we would love to move to a better maintained building with more modern amenities. Yet, we feel trapped in our current location by the lack of budget-friendly options near the friends and businesses that make the city home.
Many Cantabrigians feel similarly to us. In the 2024 Resident Opinion Survey, 46 percent of respondents ranked “affordable housing” as the single most important issue for the city to address. Just 6 percent gave the city “excellent” marks on achieving “market housing that is affordable.” Residents are clear that housing is top of mind.
Statewide, 68 percent of Massachusetts voters think there are not enough homes in their community for the average person to rent or buy, according to a MassINC Polling Group survey. Eighty-one percent support legislation to make it easier to build more housing. Nationally, the high cost of housing is one of the most significant areas of economic concern for Americans.
Understanding this environment, the Cambridge City Council took decisive action this February on what is ostensibly the No. 1 priority for voters: more housing. They showed strong local leadership by passing the Multifamily Housing Ordinance on an 8-1 vote. The resulting zoning legalizes multifamily housing citywide and allows residential buildings up to six stories as long as 20 percent of the homes are affordable. While not a panacea, the debate among the Council during the legislative process showed they’re laser focused on making housing more accessible.
A new six-story project on Western Ave in the Riverside Neighborhood, proposed a few months after the new zoning passed, is a sign of how many more homes could be coming to the city in the next few years. The plans outline over 70 apartments – 20 percent of which will be permanently affordable, as mandated – on a lot where there is one home now.
These 2025 zoning changes are in addition to the amended 100 Percent Affordable Housing Overlay , which passed in October 2023 with support from incumbent councilors Burhan Azeem, Marc McGovern, Sumbul Siddiqui and E. Denise Simmons. As a result, 100 percent affordable projects such as 28-30 Wendell St. and 2072 Massachusetts Ave. will soon create another 150 units, and around 1,000 affordable homes are in the pipeline.
The City Council has projected a clear vision for a city in which more people can find the right housing option that works for them and, ultimately, more people can imagine making Cambridge their long-term home. I believe our councillors have heard our concerns and are making it easier and cheaper for builders to begin laying the foundations of more apartments.
Just as the rise of the triple-decker in the early 20th century provided much needed dense housing for working-class families moving to the Boston area, I hope that the 5-over-1 apartment building will help enable a new housing boom. These bigger buildings may alter the visual appearance of Cambridge, but it’s the people, businesses and community groups in these buildings the Cantabrigians – that define its character.
Seven of the eight councilors who passed the Multifamily Housing Ordinance are running for reelection this November—Azeem, McGovern, Patty Nolan, Siddiqui, Simmons, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler and Ayesha Wilson – and all deserve your vote for another term. They’ve wrestled with hard tradeoffs and demonstrated an ability to work together on compromise solutions to problems that sometimes feel intractable. I believe they’ve taken seriously the idea that Cambridge residents, present and future, are entitled to the dignity of choice when picking where to live.
Sam Polzin is a volunteer with A Better Cambridge’s Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee. The views expressed are his own.
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This column makes a strong case for the housing vision Cambridge needs, one that’s inclusive, sustainable, and guided by evidence, not fear of change.
The City Council’s action on the Multifamily Housing Ordinance shows leadership grounded in data and resident priorities. The main opposition against development are wealthy homeowners who don’t want anything to change. Meanwhile, the majority of residents are renters, many of whom struggle with housing costs and support development.
Well-designed, mid-scale buildings like these are how we keep Cambridge livable for working families, teachers, and service workers who make the city thrive.