The 2019 election ushered in 6 ABC pro-housing councilors, the super majority we needed to pass the AHO in 2020. Since its passage, the AHO and AHO 2.0, which was passed in 2023, has enabled 13 developments in 9 neighborhoods, which include ~760 new affordable homes plus 365 rebuilt ones.

Learn more about what projects are coming online and how they’ve impacted very real people.

On FEB 10, 2025, the pro-housing City Council that ABC IEPAC helped elect ended exclusionary zoning laws that had been on the books since 1943. We now allow up to 6 stories citywide by right, positioning the city as a national leader in efforts to address the national housing crisis.

Learn more about what others are saying about this historic achievement.

On August 1, 2025, the end of tenant paid broker fees took effect, in no small part because of the efforts of ABC’s pro-housing City Councilors.

Learn more about how one of ABC’s councilors led the efforts statewide to end these fees.

In 2022, Cambridge became the first city in the state to eliminate all parking minimums for new developments.

Learn more about this pro-housing achievement.

In 2020, the City Council passed the Tenants’ Rights and Resources Notification Ordinance but it was not widely disseminated.

For example, most tenants & landlords do not know the strict laws governing how a landlord must treat security deposits. Understanding these laws can save tenants thousands of dollars if the landlord does not return the security deposit in its entirety with interest at the end of tenancy.

From the Boston Globe, Aug 1:

Landlords can’t penalize tenants for reasonable wear and tear, state’s top court says. The court also says signed leases requiring professional cleaning are void and unenforceable.

In 2024, ABC successfully advocated for both adequate funding & resources (lawyers, mediation, etc) for tenants facing eviction and for wider dissemination of the ordinance.

Check out Cambridge’s Tenant Rights & Resources.

The big election issue in 2019 was the Affordable Housing Overlay (AHO), which failed to pass in 2017 despite having majority council support (5/9). Under state law, passage required a supermajority.

Learn how the election unfolded, the history of the competing organizations and why a slate of candidates is so important.