Stanislav Rivkin Wants to Upend Cambridge’s ‘Reagonomics’ Policies

Stanislav Rivkin grew up in subsidized housing. He has spent the past decade and a half promoting affordable housing across the country. Now, he wants to solve Cambridge’s housing crisis.

Rivkin, the associate director of admissions at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and current MPA candidate at Harvard Kennedy School, is running for Cambridge City Council to bring his progressive ideals to the body. His priority is to make the city affordable for the bottom 50 percent of earners — one of the biggest issues for voters this cycle.

After immigrating from Uzbekistan as a child, Rivkin and his family relied on medicaid and other welfare programs to get by. Now, he is running to protect many of the city’s social services that immigrant families like his rely on now.

“I very vividly remember how difficult, even with affordable housing, it was to get by, even with that and a bunch of other social programs, food stamps and other things that we received, it was still so difficult to get by,” Rivkin said.

Cambridge shuttered two notable social services this spring, pushing Rivkin to run. The Council voted to close the Transitional Wellness Center, a dry shelter with 58 beds, and Rise Up, a program that provided direct income to those living below the 250 percent of the Federal Poverty Level in Cambridge.

“Cambridge has one of the lowest residential tax rates in the region, in the state, in the country,” Rivkin said. “So this idea that we can’t afford it, it’s a rhetorical trick.”

Rivkin says that despite Cambridge’s reputation as a liberal safe haven, the city’s politics are dictated by conservative fiscal policies — something he hopes to change.

“We’re actually adopting the same kinds of Reaganomic principles that we criticize vigorously in Washington — the same cut taxes on the rich and cut services to the poor,” he said.

“We have one of the more progressive cities in Massachusetts that is wrapping itself constantly in the flag of progressivism, shaking its fist every day at the TV at Donald Trump, and yet does locally largely what it criticizes Trump for doing federally,” Rivkin added.

Frank Arce, the HGSE assistant dean for admissions and financial aid and member of the LGBTQ+ Commission for the City of Cambridge, said housing affordability — and more broadly, resource accessibility — is at the “forefront” of Rivkin’s mind.

“He's a very fascinating individual that really leads with his heart, he’s really caring, and he’s really trying to make a positive impact,” Arce said. “I can see that from just the work he does here, with trying to make sure that HGSE and our admissions work that it’s accessible to all.”

Mohib Ahmed ’28, who co-founded the Cambridge Housing Affordability Organizers with Rivkin, noted his ability to reach across political aisles to bring housing affordability to communities in need.

“He believes that most people actually want what’s best for the community. It’s just that a lot of times, especially in Cambridge, you have certain groups that have created this false extremity” Ahmed, who works on Rivkin’s campaign, said.

“He’s really good at communicating that’s not actually true, that what we do want is affordable housing,” Ahmed added.

Rivkin, who is running a grassroots campaign without the financial backing of PACs, developers, or lobbyists, is facing a difficult slate of competitors. There are eight City Council members running for re-election this fall — making the race for the other eleven challengers even more difficult.

“I’ll be honest, before this campaign, I didn't realize that some of the issues with the malfunctions and the unaccountability in our political system — I didn’t realize they extended to Cambridge,” Rivkin said.

“I’ve seen just so much incredible back dealing and abuse of power and leveraging insider status to try to sway the election, leveraging big money to try to sway the election,” he added.

Despite facing an uphill battle, Rivkin said he is committed to bringing his vision of a more progressive Cambridge to the Council.

“It’s not easy to be completely honest and raise money,” he said. “But there’s no other way I would want to do this campaign, and I think this election is going to be a real test if being honest and truthful is viable in terms of winning an election.”

—Staff writer Mackenzie L. Boucher can be reached at mackenzie.boucher@thecrimson.com.