Dear City Council and City Manager,

We, the undersigned, write to support housing for all and to oppose reinstating exclusionary zoning. We urge you to reject amendments or petitions that will stall or limit new housing construction.

Cambridge has a housing shortage. Rents are crushing families, workers, and long-time residents. Our adult children, teachers and paraprofessionals, and neighbors cannot afford to stay. Cantabrigians rank housing affordability as far and away the biggest issue they face. Our affordable housing waitlist has more than 22,000 households, and rising rents increase our unhoused population.

Last year, Cambridge took a historic step — opening more of our City to the homes we desperately need. Our widely-hailed Multifamily Housing Ordinance is projected to help us reach our 2018 Envision Cambridge housing goals, including 660 permanently affordable inclusionary homes. 

Now, a group of residents and two Councillors want to reverse course, rezoning Cambridge back toward the exclusionary and regressive rules that have driven up costs for decades and pushed too many residents out of our City.

We say no.

We, the undersigned, call on the Cambridge City Council to:

• Defend the Multifamily Housing Ordinance.
• Reject any amendments that would roll back housing capacity or restore exclusionary zoning in Cambridge’s residential neighborhoods.
• Reject the Brown zoning petition and any similar measures designed to block multifamily inclusionary housing and 100% Affordable Housing Overlay housing.
• Affirm Cambridge’s commitment to becoming a city where people of all incomes, backgrounds, and family sizes can afford to live.

Exclusionary zoning has a history. It was used to segregate American cities by race and class, and its effects in Cambridge persist today. Protecting low-density, single-family-only zones doesn’t preserve neighborhood character; it preserves inequality.

More homes mean lower rents. More homes mean more customers for local small businesses, more jobs, and a growing tax base, making it possible for Cambridge to continue to thrive. More homes mean a safer, more accessible, environmentally-friendly, and inclusive Cambridge. We deserve it.

Enter your info below to stand with Cambridge’s future — not its exclusionary past.