Cambridge Housing Committee Orders Draft Zoning to Allow Apartments Citywide

CAMBRIDGE — May 8, 2024 — Cambridge Housing Committee votes to begin drafting rules allowing apartments citywide. The committee, co-chaired by Councillors Sumbul Siddiqui and Burhan Azeem, voted 4-0 Wednesday to direct the Community Development Department to translate a high-level multifamily housing proposal into formal zoning language, a step CDD Director of Zoning and Development Jeff Roberts called potentially "one of the more impactful changes" since Cambridge first instituted zoning 100 years ago. The proposal would allow duplexes, triple-deckers, and buildings up to six stories citywide by right with a 20 percent inclusionary requirement, consolidating all neighborhood residence districts into a single designation. Harvard professor and former Obama administration economist Jason Furman testified that Cambridge's current zoning prevents the majority of its own existing housing stock from being legally built today, and that supply restrictions are a primary driver of rents that now run roughly $3,000 a month for a two-bedroom apartment. Cambridge has built only 474 of a targeted 3,175 affordable units since 2018 and needs 9,319 total additional units to meet its 2030 goal.