Meet Burhan

Burhan Azeem is a three-term city councillor and current Vice Mayor of Cambridge. He is one of the leading voices on housing affordability in Massachusetts. After immigrating from Pakistan at the age of four, Burhan and his family relied on Medicaid and food stamps, which shaped his view of government. He learned firsthand that when programs work, they change lives for the better. 

​​

After earning a full scholarship to MIT, Burhan became an EMT and built several successful companies. After being frustrated by rising costs and the impossibility of finding an apartment in Cambridge, Burhan ran for office, dedicating himself to passing policies that bring down costs for working families.

 

The Boston Globe called Burhan a “mild-mannered engineer who’s pushing Cambridge to finally tackle its housing crisis.” The MIT Technology Review described him as a “walking antidote to political cynicism.” He is a key figure in the abundance movement, co-founding Abundant Housing Massachusetts and the Welcoming Neighbors Network.​​

 

​Burhan’s record is about delivering.

​

Housing

As a co-founder of Abundant Housing Massachusetts, Burhan knew that tackling the housing crisis was critical. In his first term on city council, he led the push to end parking minimums, which made it more expensive to build housing. This historic legislation was recognized as a huge step towards more affordable housing and pushed forward a nationwide movement. Burhan wrote the legislation to expand the Affordable Housing Overlay and build much-needed affordable, income-restricted housing in the city.​

 

In Burhan’s second term, he focused on expanding housing and passed Cambridge’s landmark multifamily housing zoning. Cambridge had been trying to pass it for years. Burhan ran on it and made it happen. 

​

​​

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Boston Globe called it “the most ambitious new zoning anywhere in the nation,” while its Editorial Board congratulated Cambridge on its success. Bloomberg City Lab covered the grassroots movement that led to its passage. 

 

Just a year later, Realtor.com reports the median price of Cambridge's homes decreased (-26%), compared to Boston's (-6.77%) and Middlesex County (-5.56%). Meanwhile, Cambridge rents went up by only 0.17%, compared to Boston's 3%.​

​​

Burhan will deliver new homes, strengthened tenant protections, and use every tool available to make housing affordable again.

​

Childcare

Some investments tackle affordability and improve outcomes at the same time. Universal pre-K is one of them. In September 2021, while running for city council, Burhan wrote an op-ed saying, “Now’s the moment for universal pre-K.” For almost 30 years, Cambridge had been talking about it. Finally, after years of effort, Cambridge finally launched its universal pre-K program in February 2024. Burhan made a promise and he delivered.​

​

Childcare shouldn’t be like having a second mortgage. Burhan will deliver programs that make childcare affordable across the district so every family has access to quality early education.​​

​

Trump Administration

When Trump threatened to freeze funding to Harvard University, Burhan and his city council colleagues urged the university to stand up to Trump. Burhan gathered a petition of over 800 signatures and organized a rally of thousands calling on Harvard to stand up to Trump. Burhan voted to strengthen Cambridge’s Welcoming City Ordinance and bar city police from cooperating with ICE.

 

As state senator, Burhan will continue to stand up to the Trump Administration and support our most vulnerable communities.

 

Transit and Traffic

We've all lost hours to transit delays and gridlocked traffic. That's time we'll never get back. Burhan will fight for real investment in the T while bringing an engineer's focus on getting projects done faster, cheaper, and smarter.

 

As state senator, Burhan will push to increase T frequency and build new T stations through creative funding, decreasing traffic and reducing demand on parking. That will allow metro workers to access affordable housing while quickly commuting into Boston. He wants to create a local authority serving all MBTA communities so that the constituents who benefit from the T have a direct say. That’s why he’s been endorsed by Jim Aloisi, former Massachusetts Secretary of Transportation, and Jarred Johnson, former executive director of TransitMatters.

​

Watch Burhan dive deeper into the MBTA in this video.

​​

Climate and Cheaper Energy

Under Burhan’s leadership, Cambridge sourced energy from cheaper and greener sources. The Community Energy Program in Cambridge offers lower rates because the city purchases electricity, negotiating with suppliers directly and returning the savings to residents. 

Burhan wants to create an independent state purchasing entity with a mandate to minimize customer costs. He supports smart investment in wind to create cheaper energy that is more insulated from oil price shocks. He wants to make it easier to build infrastructure for alternative energy. And he’s a champion for building geothermal wells—sustainable technology that allows buildings to be heated without using fossil fuels.

​

Legislative Transparency & Efficiency

Massachusetts has the least productive state house in the country with the least transparency. Politicians are afraid that voters aren’t smart enough to understand policy arguments and happy to wait to get things done since they can't be held publicly accountable for their votes. It’s time for all that to change.

​

In Burhan’s first term, he tracked policy orders’ progress on his website so that constituents could keep track of what was happening. After that, he worked with the City of Cambridge to implement its own public system so that everyone could have easily accessible information.

 

Burhan has shown a remarkable ability to work with his colleagues to get things done, even when they disagree with him. He will build consensus, coalitions, and get people in the statehouse to work together. Before Burhan, Cambridge was slow and afraid of change, debating zoning changes and universal pre-K for decades. Now, it has made historic progressive changes year after year.​

​

Burhan will work to ensure that voters know what is happening at the State House. He trusts that voters understand the complexity of the issues and that we can solve these problems. He believes in a better Massachusetts: one that starts with you.