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 Jivan Sobrinho-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 Sobrinho-Wheeler noting he 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.