Council hears push to delay housing merger
The Cambridge City Council heard five residents urge delay of a housing office consolidation Monday. Nine councillors, including Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem, were recorded present for the 6:30 p.m. hearing, which drew no vote.
City Council · Meeting of March 9, 2026
CAMBRIDGE — The Cambridge City Council heard five residents urge delay of a housing office consolidation Monday. Nine councillors, including Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem, were recorded present for the 6:30 p.m. hearing, which drew no vote. Carolyn Majid of the Cambridge Housing Justice Coalition and Lee Ferris of the Cambridge Residents Alliance both pushed for an independent "Office of Housing Stability" modeled on Somerville and Boston, separate from the city's development-focused Housing Department, with Ferris saying such an office "would likely function better if it does not report to the Housing Department." Dan Totten, a former city employee, described the current referral system for homeless and at-risk tenants as "a really overwhelming, confusing process." No timetable for a council decision was set.
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Source: the City Council meeting of March 9, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.
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