For nearly 100 years, Cambridge has fought against allowing more housing to be built to meet the needs of its residents. With 6 ABC endorsed councilors, the current City Council took the first step since 1926 to move away from the idea that we should restrict the housing that can…

The carbon impact of building a home in Cambridge is the equivalent of planting approximately 450 trees. It is more than double the benefit of switching a household to an electric car. …

A citizen group has come forward with a petition opposed to the Missing Middle Housing Petition. There are a number of both incorrect and misleading claims on both what the MMH petition will do, and what it won’t do. …

On Tuesday, March 16th, the Cambridge Planning Board will hear a petition to redevelop a property to create “two new single-family residences with one located greater than 75 feet from the street line”. At a glance, this special permit feels unnecessary, but not harmful: it looks like a relatively normal…

Looking at commercial real estate listings for multi-family apartment buildings, it is really stressful to just have a vision of “who is going to be priced out of their apartments next.” Case Study of a Property For Sale Today’s example is a building advertised on commercial real estate listings as having a 3.57% cap rate, with a…

It seems like site work has been started at 55 Wheeler St, which is set to become the largest residential building by units in Cambridge, MA when completed. This site is an exciting opportunity for housing, but as usual, the process has been needlessly timid and fraught with delay. Neighborhood Defenders The…

I made a new graph today, and I was honestly kind of surprised by it. It’s “number of today’s existing units in various housing types, by decade built.” Prior to the 1930s, we were creating lots of housing in 2-fam, 3-fam, and small apartment buildings. In the 1930s, that ended. …

Like many Cambridge residents, I have long found Cambridge’s model of city government confusing. While growing up, I always expected that the power to enact change where I lived would be in the hands of elected individuals. In Cambridge, much of our government is instead run by an unelected official…

Earlier today, I was reading a thread on a local neighborhood mailing list, and I came across this statement from one of our local City Councillors. When I hear “lack of supply,” it sounds almost like an accusation, as if “we”, whoever is being addressed, are somehow deficient by not…