Cambridge Housing Committee advances two-track rental subsidy pilot for cost-burdened residents

CAMBRIDGE — October 15, 2024 — Cambridge Housing Committee advances a two-track municipal rental subsidy pilot targeting roughly 40 to 50 households. Housing Director Chris Cotter and Housing Liaison Maura Penzak presented recommendations for a tenancy preservation subsidy — covering the gap between a renter's 30 percent income share and the fixed rent in an affordable unit — and a parallel track for immigrants ineligible for federally funded housing, sized for up to 10 households. The estimated annual cost is approximately $1 million, subject to further modeling; funding would come through a direct city council appropriation rather than the Affordable Housing Trust. Committee members including Vice Mayor Marc McGovern and Councillors Sabrina Joy Wheeler and E.B. Wilson pressed for cost scenarios at multiple funding levels and for data on how many of the city's 4,000-plus affordable units contain cost-burdened households, with Wheeler noting she wanted to "serve a larger fraction of the population." The Cambridge Housing Justice Coalition, speaking through member Richard Kruschnik, called for a competing $5 million pilot to expand inclusionary access for residents below 50 percent of AMI, arguing that the staff proposal leaves unaddressed the 6,000 households on CHA's waiting list.