"Area 4 is really screwed up," Maldonado says.
The neighborhood's mostly immigrant population can't afford the base rate of $800 a month for a studio apartment "where you can't even move," he comments.
It's no wonder, he says, that there are so few corner stores left in Area 4. Rent for a corner storefront begins around $1,700 a month.
Maldonado says the rent will likely drive him away too. He says he hopes to return to his native Puerto Rico or possibly Central America.
Right now, he and his 26-year-old son share an apartment for $1,200 a month.
The apartments themselves are often small and cramped, with houses holding two or three families apiece, a large proportion of them families with children.
In fact, Area 4 has more people per household on average than any other Cambridge neighborhood. A total of almost 7,000 people live within Area 4's boundaries, roughly eight blocks on each side.
"It's a lot of people crammed into a small area," Gamble says.
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