Cambridge City Council elections, Neighborhood Conservation Districts and a powerful film on the human consequences of the housing crisis.
A Better Cambridge continues to fight for more housing as we approach election season. In coming months, we’ll work to maintain a pro-housing City Council by holding a candidate forum and selecting a slate of endorsed candidates. Our affiliated (but separate) political action committee will publicize and promote the slate, joining ABC in informing Cambridge residents about actions on our housing crisis.
The ABC Independent Expenditure Political Action Committee will kick off election activities with a Pro-Housing Ice Cream Social on Sunday, July 13, from 2:00 to 4:00 pm. Chat with your pro-housing friends (new and old); enjoy games and fun for all ages; and join the movement for a vibrant, affordable Cambridge. Details and RSVP here. Can't make it? Support election efforts with a donation or sign up to volunteer.
As the City Council updates obsolete laws and reverses policies that have enabled our long-running housing shortage, another stumbling block to more housing is currently attracting attention. Neighborhood Conservation Districts (NCDs) were first established in Cambridge in the 1980s, are administered by the Cambridge Historical Commission (CHC) and have been given a very broad, but ill-defined, sphere of influence in certain expensive, exclusive neighborhoods.
The NCDs’ charters typically include such goals as limiting buildings to “modest scale” and avoiding “excessive infill” -- the type of vague discretionary requirements that have been used to delay or block needed housing with threats of legal action. In 2023, the Council enacted some reforms of the NCD law to align it with current housing needs, but this year’s Multi-family Zoning amendments have widened the gap between Cambridge’s laws and NCD Commissioners’ expectations.
In recent NCD meetings, Commissioners have been heard discussing how they can and should deny certification of residents’ proposals when they feel a proposal conflicts with the NCD’s mission, even when city laws say otherwise. Although the law does not permit NCD consideration of "the appropriateness of the size and shape of the structure,” some NCD Commissioners have said they may comment negatively on exactly those factors, because they’re not using such findings in their decisions.
Also, many Commissioners have been allowed to stay in their appointed positions far longer than the legal limit of six years, a situation that reportedly has raised concerns among city officials, both elected and appointed. We’ll probably be hearing more about NCD issues in coming months.
The Boston Globe reports that a key economic index shows the Greater Boston housing market slipping to a new level of dysfunction. Until the 1980s, the ratio of median home price to median income generally hovered around a healthy level of 3.0, but then began to rise slowly, picking up speed around 2000. The index has now doubled to 6.3. With home prices rising so much faster than incomes, homeownership -- and sometimes any form of housing at all -- is moving beyond reach, especially for those who need it most.
While our housing shortage is often approached as a problem of law and policy analyzed with statistical tools, Cambridge organization The Black Response has recently screened a powerful film presenting the human consequences of lack of access to housing. Where Do Black Men Live? is a fictional dramatization of interviews with black men exploring the challenges and triumphs they’ve faced in finding and keeping a home.
Although there are no additional screenings scheduled at this time, more are in the works. Check this webpage in the future for details on when and where this compelling and important work may be seen.
