Cambridge’s housing boom is changing neighborhoods, and residents aren’t happy

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Cambridge made a major change to its zoning rules last year, all in an effort to get more housing built.

Now, as developers begin taking advantage of those new rules, some residents say they’re paying the price.

It’s no secret that Massachusetts has a long-standing goal to fix the housing crisis, but in Cambridge, the push to build more housing is no longer just a policy debate at City Hall. It’s actually starting to happen on residential streets, next door to existing homes.

Kiril Alexandrov has lived in Cambridge for more than 30 years and is not a fan of the new developments.

“My first reaction was horror, because it was sticking out a like a sore thumb,” Alexandrov said.

The city’s multifamily housing ordinance, passed in February 2025, was designed to make it easier to build more homes faster.

The city set a goal of 12,500 new units by 2023, and under the new rules, multifamily buildings can generally be four stories, with just a five-foot setback. Developers are now moving in to take advantage.

“It’s unleashed this massive development spree with basically no rules,” Alexandrov said.

Alexandrov points to several new development sites, within just a block of each other, where that change is already visible. Old homes coming down, and new, larger buildings going up.

“They call it multi-family units, but what family is going to want to live in this rectangular box with no green space and no parking? That’s changing the chemistry and the balance, which makes Cambridge such an interesting place, as well as ruining the diversity,” Alexandrov questioned.

For residents living next to these projects, the concern isn’t whether Cambridge needs more housing; it’s how that development will change their neighborhoods, and one of the biggest flashpoints is parking.

Parking isn’t required under the city’s new zoning rules, so many of the new developments don’t include it.

Carl Graham, who has lived in Cambridge his whole life, is facing that right now, as two new builds are going up right across the street from him.

“This unit won’t have no parking and so they’re going to be fighting with me on this side to park their cars,” Graham explained.

That gets to the larger question Cambridge is now facing: How do you build housing, the city says it desperately needs, without creating new problems for the people already living there?

At city hall, city manager Yi-An Huang says housing comes first.

“We need to get the housing built, and we also have to be considering what the implications are,” Huang said. “These are hard conversations as we’re trying to make sure that we’re getting the number one priority done and also managing a lot of other demands and things that we are responsible to deliver on as a city.”

Huang said the city is already considering changes to setbacks, unit sizes, and other development rules.

Though, for residents watching demolition crews move in next door, those changes may come too late.

“Big changes, and this is like one of the biggest ones where we feel we weren’t asked as residents. Like do we want this?” Alexandrov asked.

Cambridge has already made its choice to prioritize building more housing. Now the city is confronting what the consequences of that choice may be.

A group of residents has been tracking these new developments, from building permits to new locations, creating their own online resource database to inform others.

The city of Cambridge has also made housing reports available for public viewing.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.

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