Housing activist group A Better Cambridge (ABC) is calling on the Cambridge City Council to pass zoning and regulatory changes to create 8,500 new mixed-income housing units in the city by 2030.
The need for 8,500 units comes from an analysis of regional housing need by the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). Based on an analysis of census data, ABC believes that a minimum of 20 percent of the new units need to be affordable to low-, moderate and middle-income families in order to preserve diversity, the group wrote on its website.
Last year, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh unveiled a plan to build 53,000 new housing units in the city by 2030. The plan was also motivated by MAPC data predicting future housing shortages in Boston in terms of both availability and affordability.
The median price of a single-family home in Cambridge was $1.2 million in 2014, compared with $667,500 in 2005, according to data from The Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman. The nearly 80 percent jump was the largest price increase in Massachusetts during that 10-year timeframe, The Warren Group reported.
ABC wants the Cambridge City Council to take action on the following issues before the November election:
• Create increased housing density – taller buildings and increased floor area ratios – at major transportation hubs and along major corridors. This includes approving the "Mass & Main" mixed-income zoning with the maximum number of affordable units possible.
• In Central Square, pass, at a minimum, the zoning recommendations offered by the Central Square Advisory Committee.
• Increase linkage fees and the inclusionary zoning of affordable housing.
• Reduce or eliminate parking minimums from the zoning code, at the very least around transportation hubs.
• Use every means of influence to increase the amount of housing universities build on their campuses in order to reduce the pressure on the Cambridge housing market.
"Cambridge stands at a crossroads. Both people and industry find Cambridge increasingly attractive. Our economy booms, yet we suffer from an acute housing shortage," the group wrote on its website. "We can either seize potential opportunities to ensure the diversity, vibrancy and values that make our city so special, or we can squander these opportunities and lose the best of our city."
