'Seasonal communities': State offers new tool for solving Cape Cod's housing crisis

HYANNIS — A plan to classify Cape Cod and other vacation spots as "seasonal communities" will allow those municipalities to unlock new resources to fight the housing crisis, said the state's top housing official.

"Here on the Cape, you have some unique challenges with your seasonal workforce and huge increases in population during certain times of the year," said Massachusetts Secretary of Housing and Livable Communities Edward Augustus. "You need some specific tools to help you with those challenges."

The policy proposal is embedded in Gov. Maura Healey's newly unveiled $4.12 billion housing bond bill —dubbed the Affordable Homes Act — meant to help build more homes and make housing cheaper across Massachusetts.

On Thursday, Augustus dove into specifics of the bill during a speech at the second annual Housing to Protect Cape Cod summit at the Cape Codder Resort in Hyannis and detailed how the bill would touch Cape Cod in an interview with the Times.

More on the 'seasonal communities designation'

A seasonal communities coordinating council of six people, including one person from the Cape or Islands, would be formed to examine the specific challenges for tourism destinations and what kind of help would make a difference.

A seasonal community designation could mean gaining access to grant programs tailored to community needs or special consideration under certain state grant programs of general application.

State Sen. Julian Cyr, who represents Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket, called the idea "common-sense good policy."

"If we can put some meat on the bones and make the seasonal communities piece a little more fleshed out, the legwork, I think this is a good idea we can get done," said Cyr, D-Truro.

Augustus drew comparisons to a Gateway Cities designation that similarly grants certain privileges only to municipalities that qualify, such as Worcester or Springfield.

Local option transfer fee

Augustus said the Legislature has until midnight on July 31 to pass the bill. He said he expects a local option transfer fee, which would give communities the option to adopt a real estate transaction fee of 0.5 to 2% on part of a property sale over $1 million, to be one of the more controversial items.

The fee is projected to impact fewer than 14% of all residential sales and would be used to fund affordable housing within the community.

"Realistically, it's a big bill. It's complicated, there's a lot of pieces ... the governor has said she wants it as quickly as possible, so that's what we're shooting for," said Augustus.

A bond bill authorizes spending, bonding or borrowing but does not assure that the spending will happen.

Potential for more ADUs

The bond bill would also allow for accessory dwelling units less than 900 square feet to be by-right throughout Massachusetts, meaning a development may go forward under a zoning ordinance or bylaw without needing a special permit, variance, zoning amendment, waiver, or other zoning approval.

The change could create about more than 8,000 additional units over five years, according to Augustus.

Communities will be able to prevent those new ADUs from becoming Airbnbs, he said, but would not be able to limit the potential tenants to just family members.

"Maybe you bring your elderly mother to live there But after she's no longer there, what do you do with that?" said Augustus. "You can't use it if that restriction is in place ... it's really a backdoor way of preventing them from coming online."

More from the Housing to Protect Cape Cod summit

Also at the summit, town officials, advocates, and housing experts swapped advice on how to organize effectively and create more housing.

One tip from the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute, in Hadley, which studied potential short-term rental regulations for Provincetown, was that the biggest way out of the housing crisis is adding more supply to the town, said Provincetown Town Manager Alex Morse.

He pointed to the 65 housing units planned for 3 Jerome Smith Road, formerly the VFW property. And the town is eyeing the current police station on Shank Painter Road — which will soon be empty due to a new one being built — for 40 year-round market rate apartments.

"A lot of folks in town, some of our average Town Hall employees, even bartenders, service staff, make a little too much to qualify for the very affordable housing, but don't make enough to buy a condo," said Morse.

With no state or federal subsidies for middle income market-rate housing, the town will have to put more of a subsidy in a project like this than in an affordable housing development, said Morse.

Formed in 2022 to push for year-round affordable housing, the Housing to Protect Cape Cod Coalition is comprised of Housing Assistance Corporation, CapeBuilt, Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, Home Builders & Remodelers Association of Cape Cod, and Cape Cod and Islands Association of Realtors.

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

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Housing to Protect Cape Cod holds its second annual summit