This summer, an excavator in Cambridgeport took down an older two-family at 214 Allston Street. In its place, according to The Boston Globe, two new townhouses are going up, and Councillor Cathie Zusy estimated they could sell for well over $2 million each. The site had two homes before and will have two after. Anyone who owns an older single-family or two-family in Cambridge should pay attention to that kind of project, because the rules being drafted at City Hall this month are aimed squarely at it.

Since February 2025, most Cambridge houses have had two kinds of potential buyer. One is a household that wants to live in the house. The other is a builder who wants the lot. Those two buyers value the same property in completely different ways, and the city is considering changes that could affect part of the builder's math.

The Multifamily Housing Ordinance

On February 10, 2025, the City Council adopted the Multifamily Housing Ordinance. It moved nearly all residential neighborhoods into a district called Residence C-1 and allowed multifamily buildings and townhouses by right. The city's summary of the zoning change describes a four-story, 45-foot standard in C-1 and a six-story, 74-foot option for lots of at least 5,000 square feet that meet the city's inclusionary affordability requirements. The ordinance text also removed minimum lot sizes, residential floor-area limits, and caps on the number of units, and it cut yard requirements. The city says existing and new single-family homes remain allowed.

The number that shapes what builders actually propose is the inclusionary threshold. As Cambridge Day has explained, projects with at least 10 units, or more than 10,000 square feet of residential space, must make 20% of their units affordable.

That cutoff explains most of what has happened since the vote. The Globe reported a sharp rise in four-story projects of three to nine units. One project on Ivy Street near Fresh Pond will put eight condominiums where a single-family home stood. The city's own numbers show the same pattern. In 2025, Cambridge issued 15 permits for three-to-five-unit multifamily buildings, up from none in that category in 2024, according to the Community Development Department's Annual Housing Review.

The Pipeline Is Mostly Small Projects

The city opened a Housing Development Dashboard on October 20, 2026, to track projects at every stage. Cambridge Day's launch-week coverage pulled these figures from it:

Most of the activity is in C-1, the district the ordinance opened up. Most of the 20 completed projects were renovations of existing buildings that added or removed a single unit. Zusy runs her own crowdsourced tracker, which includes a watchlist of 21 homes recently sold to developers that may not yet have public plans.

Large buildings are a smaller share of the pipeline. The Globe counted roughly 10 six-story projects of 25 to 80 units in various stages of planning across Cambridge. Four of them are near approval within a two-block radius around Ellery Street and Broadway in Mid-Cambridge. The city lists 60 Ellery Street going from nine units to 29, 84–86 Ellery Street going from seven units to about 50, and 406 Broadway going from two units to 34. In Huron Village, 9 Wyman Road is proposed as a six-story, 56-unit building on the site of a single-family house. This summer the Cambridge Historical Commission turned down both a landmark petition for that house and a later proposal for a neighborhood conservation district.

In June, CDD staff described the pattern this way: "We've seen smaller multi-family housing developments breaking ground, mainly less than 10 units." Staff added that economic conditions are "challenging right now and pretty uncertain for projects of a larger scale," as reported by Cambridge Day.

What the Proposed Amendments Would Change

On September 16, 2026, two council committees recommended a set of changes. They keep the four-story limit and the six-story inclusionary option, but buildings would have less room to spread across their lots.

The unit-size rule is aimed at the 214 Allston Street kind of project. City data cited at the hearing show that nearly all one- and two-family projects permitted since the ordinance took effect averaged more than 1,600 square feet per unit, and none of the projects with 10 or more homes did. In June, CDD said the rule could lead builders to add units or to shrink buildings, and that only one recently permitted project would likely get smaller.

The setback changes matter most on small lots. "On these small sites, even just a few feet can make a big difference," CDD Deputy Chief of Planning Jen Caira said at the September hearing, as Cambridge Day reported. Officials said the extra room is meant for stormwater systems, electrical equipment, accessible entrances, and tree protection.

The committees also added a condition proposed by Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler. Any change must be neutral or lead to more housing units than current zoning allows, and it must not reduce the inclusionary units that could be built. CDD said it still projects 250 to 300 additional homes a year.

Where Things Stand This Week

On September 28, 2026, the full City Council accepted the committee report and adopted the policy order 9-0. The order asks the City Manager to work with CDD and other departments to draft zoning language based on the September 16 recommendations. Melissa Peters, the Assistant City Manager for Community Development, told the council that staff would respond within six to eight weeks. Councillor Tim Flaherty suggested adding a sunset provision. These actions are recorded in the meeting agenda notes.

Six to eight weeks from September 28 runs from about November 9 to November 23, which puts staff's response inside that stretch of November. The policy order itself changes nothing. Any drafted amendment still has to go through its own approval process before it takes effect, as Cambridge Day explained. Until that process is complete, the February 2025 rules apply.

Councilors disagree about whether to go further. Zusy has discussed stronger green-space requirements and allowing six-story buildings only on wider streets and larger lots, with design review. Councillor Marc McGovern argued at the September hearing that the market-rate projects serve people who earn too much for subsidized housing "but can't afford a $4 million single-family home," according to Cambridge Day.

Quick Answers

Have the proposed amendments taken effect? No. The council has asked staff to draft zoning language, and that draft needs its own approval before it changes any rule.

What does the city say about single-family homes? The city says existing and new single-family houses remain allowed.

How can I see what is planned near a specific address? The city's Housing Development Dashboard tracks projects from application through completion. For questions about specific multifamily projects, the city takes them at [email protected].

This post is general information about rules that are still being drafted. It isn't legal, tax, or financial advice, so check how any zoning change would apply to your own property with a land-use attorney or the city's Community Development Department.

If you own an older Cambridge home and want to know how a buyer who plans to live there and a builder who wants the lot would each price it, The Nikki Martin Team can walk you through both. Request a free home valuation.