Cambridge Eliminates Single-Family Zoning, Allowing 6-Story Apartments Across City
Cambridge has passed one of the most ambitious multifamily zoning laws in the country.
The Cambridge City Council on Monday night voted 8-to-1 to allow apartment buildings of up to four stories on any lot in the city. The law would allow six-story buildings on lots of 5K SF or more if the developer reserves 20% of the units as affordable housing.
The move makes Cambridge one of Massachusetts' first cities to eliminate single-family-only zoning, and its six-story policy represents one of the broadest zoning reforms anywhere in the U.S., the Boston Globe reports.
The proposal was introduced in May by council members Burhan Azeem and Sumbul Siddiqui. It initially would have allowed six-story buildings anywhere in the city, but the affordable housing provision was added after the proposal faced pushback.
"I can't believe it — after years of advocacy, exclusionary zoning has ended in Cambridge," Azeem wrote in a post on X. "We just passed the single most comprehensive rezoning in the US — legalizing multifamily housing up to 6 stories citywide in a Paris style."
An analysis last month from the city's Community Development Department projected that the proposal would yield 1,195 net new units by 2030 and 3,590 net new units by 2040.
Cambridge, a city of 118,000 people directly across the river from Boston, is known for being the home of top academic institutions Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It is also one of the most expensive places to live in the region. Its average rent price last year was $3,484, up 3.5% from the prior year and 16% from two years before, according to Boston Pads, That compares to $3,282 in Boston.
Jason Furman, a top economic adviser in the Obama administration who now teaches economic policy at Harvard and lives in Cambridge, wrote in a post on X that the bill's passage was "Amazing, amazing, amazing."
"One day thousands of families will be living here, spending less of their budget on rent, and few of them will realize it never would have happened but for the leadership and persistence of [Azeem]," he wrote.
