Cambridge City Council is considering changes to our new Multifamily Housing Ordinance that would make it harder to build the homes Cambridge families need. Tell the Council to PROTECT permanently affordable inclusionary homes and to REJECT amendments that reduce housing and increase housing costs!

This evening, Monday, September 27 at 5:30 pm, City Council will consider amendments to Cambridge’s Multifamily Housing Ordinance (MFH). We need your support! Email City Council and sign up for public comment now to urge them to protect the 1000+ new homes and 150+ permanently affordable homes in the pipeline! 

Members of A Better Cambridge fought for policies that allow more homes for our neighbors at all incomes. Newly proposed amendments create new restrictions, resulting in fewer homes for our neighbors, including working families and essential workers who make our city an inclusive, welcoming community. 

What You Can Do

The Councillors need to hear from you! Email City Council at [email protected] before the hearing and sign up to speak at public comment. CC [email protected], [email protected] and [email protected], and BCC us at [email protected].

What to Say

When you give public comment and email, it’s important to let City Council know: 

• Don’t weaken what's working, and don’t harm the 150+ permanently affordable inclusionary homes already moving forward. CDD’s own analysis shows more homes, equitably distributed, with a much stronger inclusionary housing pipeline than prior to passage. We have yet to build a single building with permanently affordable inclusionary homes since MFH passed last year, and yet we already have amendments to decrease housing production and increase rents. Cambridge’s housing rules should be opening doors, not closing them. 
• Increasing setbacks and open space requirements mean fewer homes can be built, and permanently affordable inclusionary homes must be specifically exempted from these amendments. CDD has already approved components of projects that would not be included in CDD’s own inclusionary housing projections, so the exemption should not be limited based on CDD's projections but must exempt all inclusionary housing. Many existing inclusionary proposals will reduce or remove all inclusionary homes if the setback amendments pass. The claim in the policy order that all dimensional requirements will still be more permissive than in previous zoning is also incorrect. Setbacks in several districts will be larger than previous zoning, increasing residential non-conformity and hampering renovations.
• There are better ways, like the average unit size limit ABC supports, to ensure more homes and affordability. Cambridge already has some of the strongest green building, climate resilience, and stormwater management requirements in the country. The claim in the policy order that these amendments "will create clearer standards" is incorrect--these amendments do absolutely nothing to change any of those requirements that all existed prior to MFH passing! They just limit the amount of housing, regardless of whether these stringent requirements, all of which ABC has always supported, could be satisfied. 
• Reject the misinformation campaign funded by wealthy homeowners calling itself “Cambridge Housing Facts.” CHF and CCC seek to reinstate exclusionary zoning and ban apartment buildings in their neighborhoods, while ignoring young families and other Cantabrigians struggling with housing costs who would benefit from more homes, including permanently affordable inclusionary homes.

Feel free to personalize with your own experience about housing! A personal story about housing costs or impacts to your community is often the most powerful thing you can say.

Click here to pre-populate a short email and please share this alert with neighbors, friends, and anyone who cares about housing in Cambridge!

Thank you for standing up for a Cambridge with more homes where residents can afford to live!