Cambridge City Council votes 8-1 to advance citywide multifamily housing zoning

CAMBRIDGE -- March 26, 2024, Cambridge City Council voted 8-1 Tuesday to direct the Housing Committee to draft zoning language that would effectively promote multifamily housing citywide, with an affordability-centered amendment requiring any new framework to include income-restricted housing "with the goal of having viable housing for everyone, especially lower income residents." The council also passed 7-2 a companion order asking the Law Department to study whether down-conversion restrictions are legally feasible, with results going directly to the Housing Committee. Assistant City Manager Iram Farooq called the multifamily zoning work a top priority for the term, while noting staff needed more time to evaluate the down-conversion question. In the same meeting, the council unanimously referred a citywide parking study to the Transportation Committee after Councillor Pickett cited survey data showing 70 to 80 percent of business-district respondents flagged parking as their top concern, and the council approved an $82,000 grant for a police-paired mental-health clinician responding to higher-acuity crisis calls. A package of amended council procedural rules passed 8-1 after the council stripped a proposed profanity ban on advice from City Solicitor Megan Bay, who warned the provision would likely not survive legal challenge under the Barron v. Kalenda ruling.