Cambridge's new housing plan is deeply flawed
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All new projects can also be built without design oversight or means of legal appeal by neighbors. As a result, residents who invested in solar technology or are considering doing so are now at risk, as their roofs could be shadowed by taller neighboring buildings.
The assumption driving the new zoning policy is that loosening zoning restrictions will flood the market with thousands of units of housing, addressing a severe housing shortage in one of the most expensive markets in the country. But a recent study for the
Many younger residents may have been led to believe that Cambridge's upzoning would lead to cheaper rents. But in cities across the country, there are mixed results from zoning reform: In Austin,
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In Cambridge, market dynamics, some unique to the city (two world-class universities and a burgeoning life-sciences and biomedical research sector) and some not (suburban boomers exchanging large homes for an urban lifestyle) suggest that upzoning alone is unlikely to create more affordability.
In recent weeks, several Cambridge real estate transactions and proposed construction projects
is actually likely to lead to more expensive, larger homes.
The 'Yes in My Backyard' movement often argues that even an increase in luxury housing development would be good, because it would free up housing downmarket, as affluent households move into newer homes. But this 'trickle-down' housing economics makes no sense in Cambridge, where wealthy homeowners typically do not leave their homes for more luxurious ones, and their current homes do not then become magically affordable.
In truth,
Meanwhile the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission had it right in its recent
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A surge in luxury housing construction will deepen Cambridge's gentrification, forcing out lower-income residents, including many from marginalized communities. Cambridge is increasingly becoming a city of extremes of rich and poor, where profit-driven policies override community needs.
Cambridge residents see a strong need for more affordable housing, according to a
YIMBYs celebrating the new measure claim moral high ground, dismissing critics as selfish NIMBYs while ignoring well-founded concerns about gentrification and the environment. Meanwhile, critics of historic-housing demolition, tree loss, heat-island impacts, and traffic congestion have been dismissed.
Instead of the new upzoning measure, better alternatives would include leveraging city-owned lots for affordable housing and prioritizing the building of new apartment properties over condominiums.
Cambridge is already very dense — one of the densest cities in the state and the
Several amendments would improve Cambridge's new measure. First, the city should limit projects relying on the new upzoning criteria to multifamily homes of three or more units. Second, projects six stories tall should be shifted to corridors near commercial establishments. Third, Cambridge should reintroduce design oversight, in part to protect residential solar-power installations.
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If the city truly wants to address its housing crisis, it must abandon the myth that deregulation will solve the problem. Affordability requires proactive intervention, oversight, and a commitment to keeping housing accessible — not a free pass for developers.
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Boston Globe
05-04-2025
- Boston Globe
Cambridge's new housing plan is deeply flawed
Advertisement All new projects can also be built without design oversight or means of legal appeal by neighbors. As a result, residents who invested in solar technology or are considering doing so are now at risk, as their roofs could be shadowed by taller neighboring buildings. The assumption driving the new zoning policy is that loosening zoning restrictions will flood the market with thousands of units of housing, addressing a severe housing shortage in one of the most expensive markets in the country. But a recent study for the Many younger residents may have been led to believe that Cambridge's upzoning would lead to cheaper rents. But in cities across the country, there are mixed results from zoning reform: In Austin, Advertisement In Cambridge, market dynamics, some unique to the city (two world-class universities and a burgeoning life-sciences and biomedical research sector) and some not (suburban boomers exchanging large homes for an urban lifestyle) suggest that upzoning alone is unlikely to create more affordability. In recent weeks, several Cambridge real estate transactions and proposed construction projects is actually likely to lead to more expensive, larger homes. The 'Yes in My Backyard' movement often argues that even an increase in luxury housing development would be good, because it would free up housing downmarket, as affluent households move into newer homes. But this 'trickle-down' housing economics makes no sense in Cambridge, where wealthy homeowners typically do not leave their homes for more luxurious ones, and their current homes do not then become magically affordable. In truth, Meanwhile the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission had it right in its recent Advertisement A surge in luxury housing construction will deepen Cambridge's gentrification, forcing out lower-income residents, including many from marginalized communities. Cambridge is increasingly becoming a city of extremes of rich and poor, where profit-driven policies override community needs. Cambridge residents see a strong need for more affordable housing, according to a YIMBYs celebrating the new measure claim moral high ground, dismissing critics as selfish NIMBYs while ignoring well-founded concerns about gentrification and the environment. Meanwhile, critics of historic-housing demolition, tree loss, heat-island impacts, and traffic congestion have been dismissed. Instead of the new upzoning measure, better alternatives would include leveraging city-owned lots for affordable housing and prioritizing the building of new apartment properties over condominiums. Cambridge is already very dense — one of the densest cities in the state and the Several amendments would improve Cambridge's new measure. First, the city should limit projects relying on the new upzoning criteria to multifamily homes of three or more units. Second, projects six stories tall should be shifted to corridors near commercial establishments. Third, Cambridge should reintroduce design oversight, in part to protect residential solar-power installations. Advertisement If the city truly wants to address its housing crisis, it must abandon the myth that deregulation will solve the problem. Affordability requires proactive intervention, oversight, and a commitment to keeping housing accessible — not a free pass for developers.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Yahoo
Towne West rezoning to potentially bring economic boost, jobs
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW)—Towne West Square could soon undergo a transformation. New owners want to rezone parts of the mall for industrial purposes. The new property owners say this means economic development and jobs. On Thursday, the Metropolitan Area Planning Commission gave initial approval for a plan to repurpose parts of Towne West into an industrial and manufacturing hub. 'I think this is a yes to bring in dilapidated property, bring life back to an area that hasn't seen life in a while,' said District 4 Wichita Council Member Dalton Glasscock, Wichita Council Member, District 4. The potential rezoning of Towne West has some at City Hall excited about opportunities for Wichitans and the economic growth the new property owners hope to bring. 'They've come in for a rezoning, so they want to be able to use the property for things that they're currently are not permitted at the site. And in this case, they're looking for more manufacturing and industrial uses to be allowed on that site,' Scott Wadle, the planning director at the Wichita/Sedgwick County Metropolitan Area Planning Department, said. TSA cracking down after rise in firearms at ICT airport Department stores in Towne West, such as Dillard's Clearance and JCPenney, will remain intact. 'The remaining property will be essentially gutted down to the studs, and you'll create this blank canvas that you can then break up into multiple spaces for multiple users,' said Chris Salata, Towne West property owner. Users who would hopefully make the economy strong and add jobs. 'We plan on investing north of $35 million into the property, and so we're going to do a really good job as it relates to what this thing ultimately looks like from the exterior,' Salata added. At the planning meeting, this proposal got approval to move forward to the next steps. This isn't a done deal yet. The zoning request now goes to a District Advisory Board in April, but it is ultimately decided on by the City Council. The owners say this is a 600,000-square-foot project that will take 24 to 36 months before it is fully leased at the site. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
12-02-2025
- Boston Globe
The YIMBY movement has a major win in Cambridge, even as many neighbors cry foul
At City Hall, there were the young YIMBYs, like those among the 10 Harvard students from a group called the Harvard Undergraduate Urban Sustainability Lab, or HUUSL (pronounced like 'hustle'), who had come to watch the vote. Advertisement There were casual YIMBYs who called in to say they hoped new housing would make it easier to get a Cambridge apartment, or keep rents from spiking every year. And there were the more hardcore YIMBYs, like the chatty and zealous members of A Better Cambridge, the city's most visible and best organized YIMBY group that has pushed, very hard, to make it easier for developers to build bigger. YIMBYs of all stripes. 'The door has been opened,' said Fred Watts, a 33-year-old data scientist who lives in Kendall Square, and who came to City Hall see the ordinance passed. 'There's going to be a hundred city councils hopefully seeing our demonstration saying this is possible and worthwhile.' Related : The ordinance, which has been tweaked Advertisement Other rules were added during months of debate, including minimum amounts of green space needed in the developments, and a rule that six stories can only be built under the law on lots that are at least 5,000 square feet. A hotly debated effort among councilors earlier this year to allow only three stories, and an additional three only if developers added the 'affordable' units, Monday's night version passed 8-1. Only Councilor Catherine Zusy opposed it, calling it a 'recipe for random development at the whim of developers.' Debate over the sweeping zoning reform, which all sides agree is likely to set in motion a major change in the cityscape, Some of the critics feared giving developers this much freedom to build would do little to make Cambridge more affordable, and might only drive home and apartment prices higher, while lining the pockets of investors or people who already own homes. Related : 'It hurts my heart when I hear people who are renting say they want this proposal to maintain their rent,' said Sara Nelson, a 52-year-old Cambridge resident who is a pediatrician in Chelsea and works with families who are being battered by the housing crisis. 'It's not realistic. It's a dream.' She has tried to convince officials to use public funds to, for example, offer zero-interest loans to low-income families looking to buy in the city, or pay to build affordable housing directly. Advertisement 'Prices aren't going to go down unless there is a non-market influence put into it,' Nelson said, adding, with a laugh, 'My family thinks I'm a socialist, but that's OK.' To others, the solution offered by loosening zoning was just common sense. Emma Bouton, 27, said she felt lucky to have found an apartment at all in Cambridge when she moved into her unit near Fresh Pond last summer, given how competitive the market is. She's getting married this year, and thinking about raising a family here, but can't imagine doing so with rents rising every year, and too few less expensive options nearby. Walking her dog in the neighborhood, she has been struck by the number of big lots occupied by only one home. 'I just think about what it would mean to be able to have a multi-story apartment building there,' Bouton said. 'What would it mean for more families to be able to live in Cambridge and have more supply bring the cost down for all the renters here?' The vote on Monday had come with somewhat of a deadline, as failure to pass it might have meant having to wait months to try again. Councilor Patricia Nolan, before the meeting started, said she thought there was still more room to refine it, but that there was enough momentum, and pressure from the YIMBY movement, that waiting longer to tweak the rules wasn't feasible. 'I am really excited and thrilled that we're going to do something. It's just unfortunate it's not the best proposal that we had on the table,' she said. Related : Advertisement As the votes came in, a crowd of YIMBYs in a gallery viewing area leaned over a railing to record it on their phones. There was halting applause and a single 'woo!' An after-party was held across the street, at 730 Tavern, although it hadn't been planned ahead of time. Actually the whole thing had been 'organized by private developers,' one of the revelers said, grinning. It was a joke, but distrust in the industry and a belief that the YIMBY movement overall is too much in the thrall of real estate investors has been at the center of the debate here as the movement began zeroing in on Cambridge. Clara Wellons was one of those skeptics. Born 38 years ago in a house on Green Street in Cambridge — literally in the house, as her mom favored a home-birth — she said she and her parents have for her whole life been battling with what she described as rapacious building developers intent on turning Cambridge into a hub for luxury high-rises. She worried about neighbors having less say in what gets built, and where that might lead. 'What I see happening to not just my neighborhood, but to Cambridge, is Kendall Square,' Wellons said, referring to a neighborhood where large glass towers have sprouted. 'It's kind of a mini-New York City. I love New York, but my parents came to Cambridge to have a family. They wanted to have clean air and a healthy environment.' To the YIMBYs, though, many concerns about the law during its drafting were at best misguided, or at worst, disingenuous. Advertisement 'They're always coming up with arguments that at the end of the day are meant to just stop anything from happening,' said Dan Eisner, a Cambridge resident who strongly supported the up-zoning push. 'People have this inherent distrust of developers. You see that in places like Cambridge because there's this anti-business mentality in progressive communities. They don't trust people who make a lot of money,' Eisner said. 'They don't want to see developers make money. Well, that's kind of what makes the world go round.' Spencer Buell can be reached at
