Cambridge Scraps Single-Family Zoning, Allows Six-Story Buildings Across City
Taking a major step, Cambridge’s City Council eliminated all single-family zoning rules. They’re the first city in Massachusetts to make this change, letting multi-family housing be built in all residential neighborhoods.
The new rules allow developers to build four-story buildings immediately. For properties bigger than 5,000 square feet, they can now build up to six stories if they make 20% of units affordable.
“I can’t believe it — after years of advocacy, exclusionary zoning has ended in Cambridge. We just passed the single most comprehensive rezoning in the US — legalizing multifamily housing up to 6 stories citywide in a Paris style,” said City Councilor Burhan Azeem to Boston Agent Magazine.
The city is dealing with a severe housing shortage. Building has slowed dramatically – only 94 new homes were built in 2023, down from 491 in 2022 and 700 in 2021.
Building costs have jumped three times higher since 2019. High interest rates and not enough workers have put many new projects on hold. Half of the people living in Cambridge can’t afford current housing prices.
The city is split on the issue. Some worry it’ll lead to expensive luxury apartments, while others think it’ll create more housing options at better prices.
The housing problem is serious. To put it in perspective, this city of 50,000 homes only added five new places to live in early 2023.
The updated rules cut out a lot of red tape. By getting rid of special permits, the city hopes to make it easier to build multi-family housing.
This is a big change from before. The old rules made it almost impossible to build anything but single-family homes in many areas.
