2026 Election Endorsements - Somerville YIMBY

Somerville YIMBY is pleased to announce the following endorsements for Massachusetts House and Senate elections. There are multiple strong candidates in many of these contests, and these were not e…

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YIMBY Dormer Amendment Passes! - Somerville YIMBY

This week, City Council passed a Somerville YIMBY-sponsored amendment to relax rules on building dormers in roofs. It took two years to get to this point, and we expect that we’ll begin to see the …

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Studios are fine, actually. Plus Lobby Day.

Policy newsletter Pencilling Out recently tackled a question that comes up constantly in Somerville: does building more studios and one-bedrooms actually help families find larger apartments, even if families aren't moving into those new units? Readers won’t be surprised to hear that the answer is yes: people who live in those studios would otherwise split larger apartments, so new studios free up larger units in other buildings.

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Are We Trying to Do Nothing?

Marblehead has been in the news recently for passing a much-delayed and toothless plan to comply with the MBTA Communities Act. As a reminder, the MBTA Communities Act, also known as Section 3A, is a state law that requires communities served by the T to legalize at least some multifamily housing. Marblehead, having missed several deadlines, finally complied this month by changing the zoning of a tony golf course to allow multifamily housing.

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90 Washington St: Choose North River Leelink

The following is a letter we sent to the Somerville City Council and the Somerville Redevelopment Authority on May 8, 2026 regarding the request for proposals for redevelopment of 90 Washington Street. To City Councilors and Somerville Redevelopment Authority members: At 90 Washington Street, the City of Somerville has acquired a rare opportunity: four under-built acres a short walk from a Green Line station. The city has received two proposals to make the site better for the city. One, from Wood Partners, proposes 300 new homes and 600 aboveground parking spots.

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Factors of Upzoning

Everyone knows that the single biggest factor in the price of a home is its location. A home in Somerville costs more than a similar one in Lowell, for example, and a home near Davis Square is more valuable than a similar one right next to I-93. The price for a location reflects its desirability. If we want to build homes where people want to live, we need to understand what kind of upzoning will help us reach that goal.

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The Basic Economics of Home Building

Building housing is a business. Both non-profit or for-profit builders need to make some money to keep the operations going and get to the next project. To estimate whether a project is economically viable, they all use a document called a pro forma. It can get quite complicated, but at the simplest, it’s a spreadsheet that compares costs against revenue. Housing Construction Site at 24 Webster Ave There are two kinds of costs: hard costs (land, labor, and materials) and soft costs (mostly fees and interest). There is one main revenue stream: rents or sale proceeds.

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The Basic Economics of Home Building

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Action Alert: Public Comment on Dormers

Write In to Support Dormer Reform We presented our dormer amendment to a joint hearing of the Land Use Committee and the Planning Board on the 16th, and public comment is open until noon on May 1. If you were haven’t already, please write to publiccomments@somervillema.gov in support of file item 26-0287, the pro-dormer amendment. It doesn’t have to be long!

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The Future of NOAH

What makes a home affordable? The government definition is that it costs less than 30% of your income to live there. If you pay more, as about a third of households in Somerville do, you’re considered “cost burdened.” There are two ways to reach affordability: subsidies, and finding a bargain on the open market. When we talk about Affordable housing with a capital A, we’re talking about subsidies.

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A Minute for Action (for Voting and Speaking at Land Use)

Elections for the Davis Square Neighborhood Council board will take place April 13 through April 27, 2026. If you live, work, or receive services in or near Davis Square, you may be eligible to vote, and your vote will have a critical impact on the future of the neighborhood. In particular, we’d like to request your support for Somerville YIMBY members: …

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Who Actually Builds Our Affordable Housing

Let’s start with a question: Which of these do you think built more new Affordable Housing in Somerville in the last 10 years? All our non-profits combined US2, the for-profit developers of Union Square Before we answer, let’s take a look at how much we Affordable Housing we have and how we actually get it built. There two main ways to make housing into capital-letters Affordable Housing in Somerville: subsidized homes and vouchers.

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Fair Housing Month Events

April is National Fair Housing Month, in honor of the 1968 passage of the Fair Housing Act. Somerville will host a number of events celebrating the month, including a screening of the documentary Segregated By Design followed by conversation around fair housing and discrimination in the city. Check out our event listings below for a variety of other events! Davis Square Update…

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A Delicate Dance

Building new homes is absolutely critical, but it’s also expensive. Just a few years ago, the Globe estimated that multifamily buildings cost at least $600,000 per home, and a 100% affordable building that just broke ground in Union Square will cost more than $800,000 per home! If we don’t want to pay for construction ourselves, we need businesses to do it.

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The Latest Copper Mill Meeting

Last week, Copper Mill hosted a new meeting about their proposed 500-home mixed-use apartment building in Davis Square. With a capacity crowd at the Crystal Ballroom and hundreds more attendees viewing online, CEO Andrew Flynn laid out some new and familiar information about the proposal, including:  A commitment to union labor 25% of the apartments set aside as subsidized , up from the 20% city minimum…

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What the heck is going on with Backyard Cottages

Have you ever wanted to add a home or workspace to your back yard? Well a Backyard Cottage might be for you! It is intended as a way to gently add a little more density to our city in a way that is not visible to most people. However, Backyard Cottages (with capital letters because they have a specific definition in the zoning code) have been a surprisingly contentious issue since they were originally allowed in 2019.

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Help Plan Affordable Housing in Gilman Square

On March 12, Just-A-Start and the Somerville Community Land Trust will host a meeting for neighbors to discuss their plans to build a fully affordable building at 297 Medford Street in Gilman Square. They’ll go over the design and project timeline and answer questions from neighbors. If you live nearby, join them at 6:00 pm, in person in the cafeteria at Somerville High School.

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No Vacancy

Have you had a landlord ask you to do something they’re supposed to handle, like shoveling snow or dealing with a rat infestation? Have they ever dragged their feet on important repairs or charged illegal fees? Have you ever shaken your fist and then given up because, although you’re in the right, you don’t have any leverage? In Somerville, both you and your landlord know two things: it would be hard for you to find a new apartment, and it would be easy for them to find a new tenant.

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Affordable Housing Makes Progress

We have two pieces of very promising news about affordable housing for you. First, Just-A-Start has secured financing and begun construction work on their 24 Webster Avenue project, which will create 43 deeply affordable rental homes in a 6-story building. That’s a real victory, but it’s taken a long time to get here, and the price is astronomical: about $837,000 per home.

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The Displacement Time Bomb

Over the last 50 years, Massachusetts has focused on high-income job creation. It started with the “Massachusetts Miracle” and continued with the growth of Kendall Square as a technology hub. The latest addition to our “brain factory” has been the boom in biotechnology and the lab space that has come with it. Somerville, too, has joined to feed the demand for industries.

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Copper Mill, ADUs, and Dormers

Join the Davis Square Neighborhood Council We strongly encourage all eligible readers to join the Davis Square Neighborhood Council and contribute to the ongoing Copper Mill discussion. The Council is moving swiftly toward full recognition from the city, and will have a major role in shaping the evolution of Davis Square over the next few years. To participate: Fill out this feedback form…

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Is Somerville Full?

Everyone knows that Somerville is one of the densest cities in New England, with around 19,000 residents per square mile. Some folks use that number as a reason to say “we’re full, go away.” That’s not exactly welcoming to newcomers, especially not to those fleeing other states or countries who want to live in a sanctuary city like Somerville. It’s also not telling the whole story, because there are other ways of looking at density that tell us more about what it means for daily life.

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Support Housing in Davis Square

Boston-based real-estate company Copper Mill is seeking permits to redevelop the area between The Burren and Dragon Pizza in Davis Square. Their latest proposal includes ground floor retail, a promised right of return for the Burren, and a lot of housing: 502 apartments ranging from studios to 3-beds. 125 (25%) of the apartments will be subsidized affordable, reserved for low-to-moderate income families.

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YIMBY Stands with Immigrants

YIMBYs are advocates for construction of housing because we want people to live in homes. We are advocates for housing in Somerville because we are advocates for Somerville. To us, that means helping people be part of Somerville, so we can all thrive and grow together. That’s true whether they grew up here, or are moving here. It’s true whether they’re coming from Cambridge or Des Moines or Tegucigalpa or Port au Prince or Mogadishu.

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Davis Square 40B update, Fair Housing Commission opening

Apply for the Fair Housing Commission The city is recruiting new members of the Fair Housing Commission, and we strongly encourage members to apply. The commission generally meets one evening per month, with additional meetings and events as needed. All residents over 18 are invited to apply by January 30. Davis Square Planning Update The long-running discussion of redeveloping the building at the corner of Elm Street and Grove Street in Davis Square has taken a new turn with a 40B application from developer Copper Mill.

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Displacement versus Displacement

Most of our subscribers probably know someone who’s been displaced, or forced to move. Maybe their lease ended, the rent went up, or in some cases their building has been condemned and must be torn down. In general, good housing and urban development policy aims to minimize displacement: when people move, it should be because they want to, not because they have to.

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