Cambridge’s big move to address housing crisis
Sunrise over Central Square in Cambridge
Eric Kilby photo
Adapted from Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com
The Cambridge City Council last week enacted a revolutionary change in its land-use rules that abolishes the long-entrenched ordinance that created districts where only single-family houses could be built. The new rule doesn’t ban the construction of single-family houses but does permit the construction of apartment or condo buildings of up to six stories in most parts of the city, provided that 20 percent of the units are set aside for “affordable housing.’’
That will bring down the city’s sky-high building costs over the next few years by expanding supply. It should be considered in Rhode Island’s most densely populated areas. (I live in a neighborhood with mixed single-family houses and apartment houses, some quite big. They work well together, assuring a wide range of age demographics, and there’s plenty of shopping within walking distance for most residents.)
That old supply and demand!
Consider that housing costs in Austin, despite it being considered a very “hot” (popular) city, have been falling in large part because of a housing construction boom, with the median home price declining 7.1 percent in the December 2023-December 2024 period! The “yes in my backyard” movement has become powerful in Austin and some other big cities in the West, even as the “not in backyard’’ stance remains dominant in many places in New England, very much including politically “liberal communities’’ increasingly known for their hypocrisy. (No land windmills please!)
Take a look for powerful lessons:
We need more than Providence’s pallet houses, although any roof in a storm….