A local developer has sued the city of Cambridge over its affordable housing zoning ordinance.
The Pioneer New England Legal Foundation, on behalf of developer and land use attorney Paul Barrett, filed a complaint in the state's Land Court on Tuesday claiming the city's inclusionary zoning requirement is illegal.
The city requires developers of multifamily projects of 10 or more units to set aside 20% of the project for income-restricted housing. Condo projects must include affordable units at 75% below market price, and rental units cannot exceed 30% of area median income.
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The nonprofit legal foundation argued that the ordinance violates a legal principle that says the government shouldn't "force a small subset of the population to shoulder public burdens that fairness dictates should be borne by the public as a whole."
“Cambridge is unfairly singling out real estate developers to bear the cost of solving the city’s affordable housing problem,” said Frank J. Bailey, president of the Pioneer New England Legal Foundation, in a statement. “Real estate developers did not create the housing shortage. It is a result of a lot of factors — primarily not building enough new housing to keep up with population growth.”
Barrett sought approval on several projects, including a 74-unit redevelopment of the former A.J. Spears Funeral Home on Western Avenue and a mixed-use project at 17 Story St. featuring 50 apartments, the Boston Business Journal reported.
Cambridge first passed its inclusionary zoning policy in 1998, mandating developers set aside 15% of units in multifamily projects of 10 units or larger for tenants making up to 80% of area median income. In 2018, the city upped the number of units that needed to be set aside to 20%.
Since its inception in the 1990s, the program has created more than 1,100 units of affordable housing, according to the city of Cambridge.
The city's affordable housing policy also has seen backlash in recent years. Coupled with high construction costs, interest rates and uncertainty with tariffs, the zoning ordinance has made development difficult to pencil.
Inclusionary zoning policy has become a popular tool for municipalities, with roughly half of the towns and cities in Greater Boston having some type of affordable zoning requirement, The Boston Globe reported.
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