Cambridge committees hear calls for design fixes to 2025 multifamily housing ordinance

CAMBRIDGE — April 7, 2026 — Cambridge joint committees debate design standards and affordability gaps in the 2025 multifamily housing ordinance. The Joint Housing and Neighborhood and Long-Term Planning committees convened April 7 for the second of at least three hearings on the February 2025 law, which allows four-story buildings citywide by right and six-story buildings with 20 percent income-restricted units. Realtor Ed Abrams cited 95 Cushing Street — a proposed six-unit project designed to stay below the inclusionary threshold — and projected a 13 to 18 percent property value loss for abutters, while urban planner Tim Love of Harvard GSD recommended embedding design standards directly into the zoning code, including driveway width caps and incentives for multiple smaller structures on a single lot. Harvard professor Magda Osei, citing her co-authored Land Use Policy paper finding upzoning is not correlated with price escalation, urged the council not to dilute the reform. Developer Jason Korb said the 20 percent inclusionary requirement for six-story projects is "fairly close to impossible" in the current economy and that by-right permitting is the only model his firm will pursue. Landscape architect Gary Hildebrand warned that five-foot side setbacks and the counting of balconies as open space threaten Cambridge's tree canopy, which has grown from 25 percent coverage in 2018 to 30 percent today. The only formal vote was a unanimous extension of the meeting by 10 minutes; a consultant's review of the inclusionary rate is expected this summer.