But the demographics of Cambridge have been changing for the past half-century, according to Duehay, not just in the four years since the end of rent control.

Once a blue-collar city dominated by industry and manufacturing, Cambridge slowly emerged as a mecca for students and professionals, sparking a rise in rents.

"Three to four students to an apartment would be able pay more than a family or a secretary or other people," Duehay says.

As a result, the city instituted rent control in the 1960s, a hugely popular reform according to Koocher.

The recent growth in biotechnology and information services has generated a lot of new wealth in the city, pushing property values even higher. According to Duehay, the end of rent control compounded the problem.

"[Some people] cannot afford to live in Cambridge [any more]," Duehay says. "It's becoming more of an upper-middle class than a diverse community, and that is inevitable with the loss of rent-control."

Many say the demise of rent control has caused the breaking of community bonds and the loss of economic diversity.

Some of the long-time residents that remain are disillusioned with government officials.

A clerk at the Dana Hill Liquor Market on Mass. Ave. in Central Square has witnessed the effects of the end of rent control.

"[Residents are] fed up with the whole thing. A lot of people aren't voting," the 18-year resident said. "They don't care who's in office."

Koocher agrees, noting that the end of rent control has adversely affected the city's leadership.

"Rent control went away and [the] leaders were discredited," Koocher says."In general, advocacy is now based around the individual egos and needs of certain leaders."

Sullivan says the new, more affluent residents moving in have less of a stake in the community and old neighborhood ties are eroding.

"There were a lot more neighborhood connections. People don't participate in the elections that they used to," Sullivan says. "There's voter apathy; there's no connection."

Natalie Smith, a member of the Eviction Free Zone, an organization active in combating housing injustice, also says unity within neighborhoods is a problem.