Cambridge’s Housing Committee is meeting next Wednesday, August 21, at 11am to finalize the proposal allowing up to 6-story apartments in every neighborhood. Your support is critical now because this may be the last chance to influence the zoning language before it’s written.

Working alongside city staff over the summer, the Housing Committee has drawn up a good conceptual framework. Now, we need to urge them to follow through on zoning language to make that vision a reality.

We will also gather for an informal social after the hearing (details below).

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Tell the City Council you support bold action on allowing new apartments in every neighborhood.

Sign up (probably starting Monday) to speak at Wednesday’s Housing Committee hearing.

Email your support to the City Council - [email protected] (cc the City Clerk - [email protected] and bcc us - [email protected]). 

• (Although the Housing Committee only has five members, it’s important for the other councillors to hear that people want more housing because the entire Council will vote on the proposal this fall.)

TALKING POINTS:

The best public comment is personal. Feel free to tell how the housing crisis has affected you and your community, and describe the city you want Cambridge to be. Below are some talking points to help; feel free to pick and choose:

• The City Council should take bold action to allow up to 6-story apartments in every neighborhood because more housing benefits everyone.
• Cambridge urgently needs lots more housing, but its zoning makes it impossible to build enough new apartments. This zoning was exclusionary from the beginning, designed to enforce segregation by class and race.
• As the city keeps adding more jobs than homes, rents have sky-rocketed and home-ownership has become a distant dream for most new families.
• Building more housing will improve affordability for everyone. This includes: 
  • Renters afraid of how much their rent will go up next year
  • Prospective first-time home-buyers who want to start building housing wealth but can’t afford the eye-popping prices
  • Existing home-owners who want to expand so more of their family can live together
  • Middle-income households who don’t qualify for subsidized housing but struggle to afford rent
  • Low income households who don’t win the lottery for subsidized housing but could move into newly-created inclusionary units
  • Voucher-holders who can’t find an apartment because there’s not enough available
  • Young people thinking of leaving the area due to housing costs
  • Older parents worried their children can’t afford to move back home
  • New families trying to stay in Cambridge to take advantage of its public schools
  • Everyone who wants to call Cambridge home
• Research shows that new housing lowers nearby rents, benefitting even those who don’t move into new housing themselves. This means fewer displaced Cantabrigians.
• Thank you to the Housing Committee and city staff for doing important work on housing. I support new housing because it makes Cambridge a more affordable and inclusive city.

POST-HEARING SOCIAL:

Join us for a social after Wednesday’s hearing at Cambridge Brewing Company (closing later this year!). We’ll be there from 6 - 8pm on the patio, weather permitting. Come out to debrief the hearing, meet other pro-housing people, and relax.