I am the Very Model of a Modern Major Upzoning How Somerville creates "missing middle" housing I am the very model of a modern major upzoningI've information efficiency, density, and filteringI know the price of homes, and I quote the cause economicalFrom Austin to Minneapolis, in order…

Mayor Wilson Transition Survey & Other News We hope you’ve been enjoying our recent series of data-driven essays on planning and policy — if you’ve missed them, you can find them at newsletter.somervilleyimby.org. Our next piece will take a look at what happens when a single lot in a typical…

Where Did the Demand Come From? We at Somerville YIMBY talk a lot about the need to supply more homes to solve our housing shortage. But supply is only half the economic equation. We also need to ask ourselves where all this demand came from. Why have we seen such large increases in the cost of…

What Would SB 79 Look Like Here? Hi, all! Over the past two years, we have been working on an upzoning proposal for Somerville. With an new city council in 2026, it feels like a good time to move forward on it. In support of that effort, we hereby start a roughly weekly blog post series about…

Action Alert: Starter Homes, Dormers, & Working Groups Get Involved: Join a Working Group Would you like to be more involved with Somerville YIMBY, but aren’t quite sure where to start? Join one of our new working groups to discuss: Elections: How did we do in the 2025 election? What could we do…

🏡 Help us get more housing on the 2026 ballot! Join AHMA, Cambridge City Councilor Burhan Azeem, and the Legalize Starter Homes Ballot Initiative for a Day of Action this weekend! tinyurl.com/2sk34xt9

Congratulations to Our New Electeds Congratulations to mayor-elect Jake Wilson, and to new and returning members of the city council. While we did not endorse Jake Wilson for mayor due to his restrained support for our zoning proposals, we look forward to collaborating with him and supporting his…

Not Just Election News The big news on the election front is that Sen. Ed Markey has endorsed Willie Burnley Jr. — and early voting is on now! Be sure to vote this week or next Tuesday. Check hours and locations at somervillema.gov/elections. Canvassing with Jon Link (left) and Ben Wheeler (2nd…

Immigrant Solidarity Rally, Elections, Community Meetings Canvassing with Jon Link (left) and Ben Wheeler (2nd from left) We’ve been out canvassing and we hope you’ll join us for the last few days of the campaign season to help get out the vote for: Mayor: Willie Burnley, Jr. At-Large: Scott…

🎉 YOU’RE INVITED 🎉 Join us this Wednesday, October 15th from 7-9PM at The Jungle for my Birthday Party & Fundraiser 🥳 Stop by for some food, music, and fun! Campaign contributions are encouraged, but not required. No one will be turned away! 🎤 Warm up your vocal cords—it’s also open mic night!

Join neighbors TONIGHT, October 13th, at 6 PM at the Cummings Center room 270 for a proactive conversation about development in Davis Square! Talk with fellow square residents and workers about what we want out of Davis Square development projects. Hosted by and only by the DSNC.

Weekend canvassing & upcoming events This weekend we’ll be out canvassing with Jon Link and Ben Wheeler. We hope you’ll join us! Canvassing with Willie Burnley, Jr. Canvass with Jon Canvass with Ben We also encourage you to help our other endorsed candidates with time and/or money if you can:…

Come out this weekend and get out the vote for Jon, one of our endorsed candidates for city council at large!

Two great events on Wednesday 10/8 We’ve got dueling events on Wednesday October 8, and we hope to see you at one of them! Zoning Lessons for Housing Affordability Please join A Better Cambridge and Somerville YIMBY on October 8 for a panel discussion on Zoning Lessons for Housing Affordability…

Panel on October 8: Zoning Lessons for Housing Affordability, from National to Local Please join A Better Cambridge and Somerville YIMBY on October 8 for a panel discussion on Zoning Lessons for Housing Affordability From National to Local. Speakers include: John Infranca of Suffolk Law and Jake…

October is Canvassing Time Do you like talking with people? Even if you don’t, would you be willing to have a few short conversations anyway? Somerville YIMBY is knocking on doors and making calls for our endorsed candidates, and we need your help. Wear your Somerville YIMBY shirt if you’ve got…

Single-stair reform would be a huge win for building abundant homes in MA, and especially for allowing more family-friendly homes to be built!

Somerville CLT & Just A Start have acquired 297 Medford St to build a 100% Affordable project! Congrats to both organizations, we look forward to supporting this effort 🎉

And now everything is (unofficially) counted for the preliminary here in Somerville. Some 100 votes remain to be hand counted, election officials say. Jake Willson seems to have 42 percent of the mayoral vote. #Somerville

Preliminary Election Day is Today! The Somerville preliminary election is today, September 16. Elections like this have low turnout, so your vote is especially important. The next few years will be very important for the city’s overall direction and growth, so please be sure to show up and vote…

Hey folks! Abundant Housing MA IEPAC is having a fundraising house party this coming Wed. Sept 17 in Somerville, and we’d love to see you there! Register here: actionnetwork.org/events/ahma-... #MApoli #VilleMA #SomerPoli

Early Voting Starts Today: Why We Support Willie Burnley Jr. Somerville needs more housing and more staff with living wages. Willie Burnley, Jr. is the best choice for mayor to solve these problems. In the Somerville YIMBY survey this summer, we asked candidates: “Our neighbors in Cambridge have…

With early voting starting tomorrow, it's great to have the support of @somervilleyimby.org in my race to become the next Mayor of Somerville! We can elect a pro-housing movement focused on ensuring Somerville has economic diversity and housing stability. Join us: linktr.ee/WillieforSomerville

Sept 5 2025 Social: Canceled! Hey folks! This Friday’s social, Sept 5, is canceled to avoid conflicting with the Mayoral Forum on Libraries and Schools:

What exactly counts as transit oriented? For many months now, Somerville YIMBY has been working with city councilors and city staff on a broad proposal to update Somerville zoning citywide. This summer, residents have been especially keen to discuss upzoning, and some have suggested that…

Catie Gould and Kate Brunette Kreuzer were on the frontlines of two of the biggest state pro-housing wins in the country so far. They built meaningful connections with coalition partners and leveraged hard-earned expertise from prior years to get it done in the Evergreen State. Hear their story:

Action alerts: Send an email, have a chat Write to the Planning Board Last Thursday, the Planning Board reviewed a proposal to build a small apartment building at 675 Somerville Avenue. This modestly sized three-story building would be built and operated by a local family business. It’s replacing…

Excited to canvass for @willieburnleyjr.bsky.social after the @bostondsa.org General Meeting tomorrow! I’ve organized with Willie since his 1st campaign. From ending forced brokers’ fees to curtailing surveillance tech, he’s been a partner. And he’ll be a great Somerville Mayor. Prelim is 9/16!

I'm so pleased to have the endorsement of @somervilleyimby.org and @gblcboston.bsky.social! More are on the way - you can find all of our endorsements at www.willmbah.com/endorsements

Take action to support housing Do you like talking with people face to face? Even if you don’t, would you be willing to have a few short conversations anyway? Somerville YIMBY is ready to start knocking on doors for our endorsed candidates, and we need your help. Wear your Somerville YIMBY shirt…

We love to see these sorts of awesome safety & livability improvements!

Happy to report that the Somerville YIMBYs have endorsed me. I’m excited to help bring more housing (esp. affordable) to our city through upzoning around transit hubs and supporting the amazing work of orgs like the Somerville Community Land Trust. Let’s work together to make good things happen.

I'm proud to have earned the endorsement of @somervilleyimby.org as the housing candidate for Mayor. As Mayor, I will continue to fight for renters, to build more housing, and to ensure affordable and accessible units are available to keep our neighbors in this place we call home!

Council & Mayoral Endorsements The Somerville preliminary election on Tuesday, September 16, 2025 will include votes for mayor, city councilor at large, and councilor for Ward 7. Based on candidate survey responses, individual conversations, public statements and established track records, we…

Somerville YIMBY’s 2025 election endorsements are here! We’re pleased to endorse these candidates: @willieburnleyjr.bsky.social @scottistvan.com @benjiwheeler.bsky.social @wilfredmbah.bsky.social Jon Link @benforward3.bsky.social Naima Sait Emily Hardt Read on: somervilleyimby.org/elections/20...

One of the things that’s great about allowing & building an abundance of homes is that, even when those new homes are high-end & high-priced, they have the biggest positive impact on the housing most likely to be attainable to lower-income folks. New housing helps everyone!

Over & over again, scientists find the same results: building abundant homes works to reduce the cost of homes! Cambridge has done the work to allow more homes, come on Somerville, let’s do this!

We’re out in the Bow Market courtyard tonight, Remnant has a private party! Look for Josh and Jeff

This month’s social is tonight at Remnant Brewing! Typically it’s the first Friday of each month, but last week was July 4th, so we moved it to tonight. Hope to see you in Union Square this evening!

One of our city councilors is stepping down, and having a thank you party to celebrate her time on the council!

Hey, that’s our petition! We’re trying to rationalize & liberalize the rules around dormers. It’s a small, but meaningful, thing for many homeowners who want to renovate their home instead of having to move.

Hey #MApoli, let’s do this! We know @abundanthousingma.org has a study bill at Beacon Hill, but how about we just go ahead & legalize it? Plenty of places have already studied this! What say you @mikeconnollyma.bsky.social?

We love to see it! And just like Minneapolis, Austin, Oakland, and Tokyo, building an abundance of homes here will also reduce rents. Let’s do it!

We’re on the agenda tonight! Huge props to our member @taniith.bsky.social who wrote the zoning amendment we have before Land Use Committee of our City Council this evening. Here’s to simplifying our rules around dormers!

Correction: Help us out at Land Use this week https://newsletter.somervilleyimby.org/p/correction-help-us-out-at-land-use-this-week

April news from Somerville YIMBY https://newsletter.somervilleyimby.org/p/april-news-from-somerville-yimby

I work in a “housing first” program in Atlanta and this will absolutely get people killed.

Our very own @thejeffbyrnes.com is remotely attending tonight’s #VilleMA Land Use Committee + Planning Board joint hearing! Up first is 297 Medford St, a proposal to build 7 storeys, ~50 homes of 100% Affordable Housing, making use of our Affordable Housing Overlay.