Ed Augustus touts 'Affordable Homes Act' bond bill; sees migrants adding to Cape workforce

CONCORD — Each day, teachers, firefighters, housekeepers, and thousands of other workers who power Cape Cod cross one or the other of the Cape Cod Canal bridges.

As of 2019, nearly 48% of Barnstable County's workforce — or over 42,000 people out of 87,856 — live outside the county. Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Edward M. Augustus Jr. cited the staggering figure, recorded in a report by the Concord Group for the Housing Assistance Corporation, during a news conference on Thursday with Massachusetts reporters in the USA Today network.

"That does nothing to advance our climate goals as a state," said Augustus. "And what employers are finding — both municipal governments as well as private employers — they increasingly can't find people who are willing or able to do that."

On Thursday afternoon in Concord, Augustus touted the Healey-Driscoll administration's proposed $4.12 billion housing bond bill — dubbed the Affordable Homes Act — and fielded questions on all things housing.

The Affordable Homes Act bond bill

Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll unveiled Oct. 18 the bond bill, which needs approval from the legislature, to increase housing production. A bond bill authorizes spending, bonding or borrowing but does not guarantee that the spending will happen.

The package includes $4 billion in capital spending authorizations, 28 policy changes or initiatives, three executive orders, and two targeted tax credits.

If passed, the bill could create more than 40,000 housing units in the state, including 8,000 accessory dwelling units, said Augustus. Accessory dwelling units less than 900 square feet would be permitted in single-family zoning districts in all communities with a local option to set some restrictions.

Augustus said cities and towns would be allowed to ban those ADUs from being used as short-term rentals.

"Because that's not what we're trying to create," said Augustus. "That's going to just exacerbate the problem."

The Affordable Homes Act could also preserve or support more than 27,000 existing units, including improvements to over 7,000 public housing units.

The legislation would also allow municipalities and regional affordable housing commissions, such as the Cape Cod Commission, to adopt a transfer fee of 0.5 to 2%, paid by the seller of real property, on the portion of sale proceeds over $1 million or the county median home sales price, whichever is greater.

That fee would then be used to develop affordable housing.

Housing crisis in Massachusetts

About 110,000 people, primarily ages 26 to 35, have left Massachusetts in the last few years, said Augustus, in part pushed out by soaring housing costs. The state currently has around a 1.6% vacancy rate whereas a healthier housing market would be closer to 5%, he said.

"If you are a renter or a first-time home buyer, you have very little power in this marketplace because the power goes to the people who control what's in short supply, what's in demand," said Augustus.

Migrant housing

On the Massachusetts emergency shelter system, Augustus said demand has "gone down a tiny bit" since Gov. Maura Healey announced in October that her administration would cap shelter capacity at 7,500 families.

"We haven't seen a drastic drop-off, but we have seen some small reduction in the number of families," said Augustus.

Close to 24,000 migrants and locally displaced people are seeking shelter through the system, he said — more than the population of half the cities and towns in Massachusetts. He said this population may be an answer to Cape Cod's labor shortage and said Healey is aggressively pursuing work authorization for them.

"They're the kind of resourceful, resilient workers that any employer would be anxious for," said Augustus. "And we've got huge needs in employment in a whole bunch of different sectors."

Zane Razzaq writes about housing and real estate. Reach her at zrazzaq@capecodonline.com. Follow her on X @zanerazz.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Renters, first-home buyers have little power, state housing head says