How Upzoning in Cambridge Broke the YIMBY Mold
By freeing apartment developers to build up to four stories across the city, the hometown of Harvard and MIT has set a new benchmark for the housing movement.
Central Square in Cambridge, where zoning restrictions on multi-story apartment buildings have been eased.
Photographer: David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
At first glance, the dramatic housing reform passed by Cambridge, Massachusetts, was a sudden about-face.
For years, the affluent Boston suburb has been one of the epicenters of the US affordable housing crisis. Home to Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the city of 118,000 offers a mix of grand historic homes, traditional New England “triple-deckers” and modest apartment buildings for students and locals. As gorgeous as it is, there just aren’t enough homes: The average rent in Cambridge runs to $3,375 a month, according to Zillow, 69% higher than the US average and outpacing rents in similar higher-ed enclaves such as Berkeley, California. Housing restrictions are so tight that over the next 15 years, the city had expected to build just 350 units. Cambridge added so few new homes in 2023 that you can count them on one hand — five units total.