Cambridge has embraced the Trump-era ethos in which anger and fearmongering fuel the battlefield of our housing crisis discussion. The “crisis” has grown here, as in most of America, with costs of building housing rising dramatically so that prices escalate, increasing the gap between high-income people buying second homes or renting at rates beyond the incomes of middle- and low-income residents who are leaving the city. Efforts to increase housing for those whose housing options have dwindled and divided this city into two camps, named in folklore Yimbys and Nimbys. The 2025 Multifamily Housing zoning change was adopted through energetic efforts of Yimbys to suggest that removing barriers to building denser, taller housing project across the city in all neighborhoods would provide more housing for low- to middle-income people. Nimbys expressed concerns that unleashing market forces throughout Cambridge would add mainly luxury upscale housing displacing tenants and putting strains on existing neighborhoods, city services and the environment. Tribalism between these opponents has degraded the discussion and prevented sensible solutions to unintended, but real consequences of multifamily zoning.
Cambridge leaders are stuck in policy discussions that lack a basis in facts and data as our capitalist economic system adds more high-priced housing. Nimbys protect traditions that have built unique neighborhoods where community bonds have flourished while supporting more modest housing policy changes; Yimbys claim that even though high-cost market dynamics fuel primarily high-end housing development, the additional housing will ultimately benefit lower- and middle-income residents based on a form of the trickle-down theory adopted by president Ronald Reagan. Trickle-down in the 1980s fueled the decline of the middle class and the growing gap between wealthy and working-class people, with young people despairing that they will never afford the comforts their middle-class parents enjoyed – owning a home, paying for their children’s education and saving for a secure retirement.
Maybe there are just too many brilliant people in Cambridge whose deep knowledge of issues deafens them to opposing views. The attitude echos the lyrics “Battle lines being drawn. Nobody’s right, ’cause Everybody’s wrong.” While emotionally arousing, the fever pitch of statements and claims makes it impossible for political leaders to craft solutions to neighborhood changes, resident displacement and escalating housing prices that are inevitable as the market decides what kind of housing will be built. Public officials are no longer in charge of housing development.
Will our elected leaders rise from the bunkers and engage in reality-based discussions about multifamily zoning impacts? Will they require that the Community Development Department prepare reliable and complete data on multifamily-zoning-inspired housing development so affordability, environmental and neighborhood impacts can be measured rationally? The rapid pace of housing development change requires officials to take the challenges brought on by multifamily zoning seriously, rise above Yimby and Nimby rhetoric to ensure that the promise of more housing for low- and middle-income residents increases while maintaining neighborhood amenities, environment and city services.
Louise Venden
Rogers Street, Cambridge
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