Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler
He/Him
- Currently
- City Councillor
- Election history
- 4th time running; served '20-21, '24-25.
He/Him
Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler has lived in Cambridge since 2017 and has served two non-consecutive terms on the city council, elected in 2019 in 2023.
Professionally, Jivan has worked as a field and operations manager for a mayoral campaign in New Haven, Connecticut, and as New England Progressive Governance Director for the Working Families Party. Before moving to Cambridge, he worked at consultancy groups in Portland, Maine and the New York City area.
Jivan has worked with Our Revolution Cambridge and is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. He also speaks three languages.
In general, Jivan is a very strong proponent of subsidized, public, Affordable housing. Likewise, he's spoken (and voted) in favor of stronger tenant protections, funding for public housing, rent control, tenant right to purchase, and more - even if it means higher taxes.
He's more skeptical of market-rate housing but still worked on the Multifamily Housing zoning reform. He is the only socialist candidate both this cycle and in 2023 to be endorsed by A Better Cambridge.
... a market-only approach to housing affordability will not solve Cambridge’s housing crisis in the same way the market hasn’t met the basic human needs like education or healthcare—we need to combine ending exclusionary zoning with a robust public response in terms of public funding, tenant protections like rent control, tenant opportunity to purchase, right to counsel, and community responses like CDCs and Community Land Trusts.
Creating more affordable housing in Cambridge is not just a climate issue but an economic, racial equity, and labor issue.
Right now, many working-class people spend hours each week commuting to and from their jobs in Cambridge because they cannot afford to live here. Meanwhile, thousands of Cambridge residents have been priced out of their homes and displaced to other communities, but continue commuting here for work. That means greater emissions produced by people to get to Cambridge, but it also means workers are spending more time stuck in traffic and less time with their families or getting to doctor’s appointments.
Working at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy also shaped my understanding of land-use policy and interest in engaging on issues of housing, climate, transit, zoning, and planning, which is so much of the work that the City Council does.
Creating safer streets and better bike infrastructure is personal for me. Before starting on the City Council, I lost part of two teeth in a bike crash in Cambridge coming home from work. I didn’t have a parking space at home or work, so biking was usually how I got there, but it often felt incredibly unsafe.
| Organization | Cambridge? | Union? | View |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Better Cambridge | |||
| Massachusetts Sierra Club | |||
| Cambridge Bicycle Safety | |||
| UAW | |||
| Boston DSA | on Aug. 25, 2025 | ||
| Run For Something | this cycle |
Pedestrian and cycling safety, policy, infrastructure, governance
Pedestrian and cycling safety, policy, infrastructure, governance
Lengthy panel on progressive issues; largely yes/no questions; only 9 respondents. This is the first year this has appeared.
Lengthy panel on progressive issues; largely yes/no questions; only 9 respondents. This is the first year this has appeared.
Housing policy, development, governance
Housing policy, development, governance
Housing, zoning, governance, infrastructure
Housing, zoning, governance, infrastructure
“We’ve seen people killed almost every single year, including this term, who are bicycling or walking in Cambridge, and we want to make sure we continue to have a majority for safer streets and transportation in the city,” councilor Jivan G. Sobrinho-Wheeler said.
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“There are other street improvements we can continue to make, including more shared streets more pedestrianizing streets, more bus signalization, bus lanes, and fare free buses is something I’ve been advocating for a while,” Sobrinho-Wheeler said. “There are three free bus routes in Boston. We don’t have any in Cambridge.”
Sept. 12, 2025 — Shawn A. Boehmer, Dionise Guerra-Carrillo, and Jack B. Reardon“We’ve seen people killed almost every single year, including this term, who are bicycling or walking in Cambridge, and we want to make sure we continue to have a majority for safer streets and transportation in the city,” councilor Jivan G. Sobrinho-Wheeler said.
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“There are other street improvements we can continue to make, including more shared streets more pedestrianizing streets, more bus signalization, bus lanes, and fare free buses is something I’ve been advocating for a while,” Sobrinho-Wheeler said. “There are three free bus routes in Boston. We don’t have any in Cambridge.”
City Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler said he would not support lowering the requirement because it has been the city’s top driver of affordable housing production. Instead, he said, the city could consider creating a sliding scale that ties the share of units required to the size of the building.
“This policy has created thousands of affordable homes for people in our city,” he said. “I don’t think we should just drop the requirement because a couple of developers complained.”
May 5, 2025 — Andrew BrinkerCity Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler said he would not support lowering the requirement because it has been the city’s top driver of affordable housing production. Instead, he said, the city could consider creating a sliding scale that ties the share of units required to the size of the building.
“This policy has created thousands of affordable homes for people in our city,” he said. “I don’t think we should just drop the requirement because a couple of developers complained.”
Housing affordability remains a priority for Sobrinho-Wheeler, and his platform also calls for increases to tenant protections, including ending tenant-paid broker’s fees and establishing a rent control ordinance.
June 13, 2023 — Julian J. GiordanoHousing affordability remains a priority for Sobrinho-Wheeler, and his platform also calls for increases to tenant protections, including ending tenant-paid broker’s fees and establishing a rent control ordinance.