Go fast, break things.
So goes the motto of Silicon Valley titans. Cambridge has also been home to brilliant researchers whose thoughtful work has long-term influence worldwide, yet city leadership has hopped aboard a powerful policy without a map or even a well defined destination. The Multifamily Housing Zoning ordinance was adopted in February 2025 without adequate consideration of impacts on meeting housing needs, housing prices, resident displacement, environmental conditions and city services.
Cambridge has been a state and national leader in removing zoning requirements that had slowed housing development by raising costs. Affordable Housing Overlay zoning was adopted in 2020 to reduce permitting requirements and allow greater height and density. By 2025 more than 16 AHO projects were underway, adding 1,000 permanently affordable homes for low- and moderate-income residents. Eliminating parking requirements for new commercial residential projects in 2022 further reduced costs for housing developers. These successful zoning changes emboldened the City Council to respond to mounting political pressure for removal of more zoning restrictions.
Adoption of the multifamily housing ordinance was touted as a way to increase residential development citywide by eliminating single-family zoning and allowing multifamily housing by right in all neighborhoods to add housing that would lower rental rates and condominium and home prices. The supply-demand theory supporting MFH suggested that adding even more luxury housing would lower prices. Supply-side economics promoted to improve the well-being of all has failed since Reagan’s trickle-down theory hastened the decline of the middle class and grew the ranks of the uberwealthy. MFH supporters downplay that original claim as new projects replace older, lower-cost housing with upscale apartments, townhouses and condominiums. There is little evidence that MFH is creating more low- or modestly priced housing, and building site prices are increasing making it more difficult for affordable-housing developers to buy them.
High-priced housing demand in Cambridge remains strong as multimillionaires seek places close to our innovation hubs and tens of thousands of people enjoy second, third and fourth homes here as evidenced by dark windows year-round in East Cambridge condominiums. Construction and financing costs are high, and investors require high rates of return due to unstable markets and high risk. Reliable strong demand for upscale housing means that more expensive housing will be built, driving prices up for existing building sites and homes. Site purchase prices, size and amenities of proposed new housing priced at $1.5 million to $5 million are beyond the reach of Cambridge resident households whose 2024 median annual income was $143,000, with more than half of households earning below that. Using the standard of 35 percent of income for housing costs means a buyer with a 20 percent down payment would need an annual income of $348,000 to buy a $1.5 million condo or townhouse. Currently the median rental rate of existing Cambridge apartments is $3,500 a month, or $42,000 a year, requiring an income of $120,000 using the 35 percent standard. That means that nearly half of current residents would struggle to pay rent now, and new apartments will necessarily be priced at higher rates.
Residents across the city have organized against large projects on their streets that tower over existing homes, force out low-rent tenants and increase flooding and environmental risks while straining city services that all taxpayers pay for. MFH was adopted without identifying the needs of existing residents who bear the burdens of neighborhood disruption, rent and home price increases. The percentage of households earning under $150,000 annually dropped by 13 percent between 2020 and 2024, according to U.S. Census American Community Survey five-year estimates, and that trend has likely accelerated through 2025 as local firms downsized and living costs increased. Updates for 2025 are not available.
Yes, things in Cambridge are being broken because city leadership has moved too fast. Not only were resident housing needs not accurately and methodically measured, but the scope, costs and pricing of proposed new housing is not being comprehensively tracked by the Community Development Department. Neighborhood groups are providing data to city councillor Cathie Zusy to track new projects, but that data may not be complete and does not include key information on the pricing of proposed new housing.
This fall the council will consider amendments to MFH sponsored by Zusy and councillor Tim Flaherty. Councilors must get answers to questions about MFH impacts to quantify changes, recognize neighborhood concerns and reduce the unintended consequences driving prices up and neighborhood displacements.
Louise Venden
Rogers Street, Cambridge
The writer is a former bank real estate asset portfolio manager and inn operator with a master’s degree in real estate finance.
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