HARWICH — There is a joint initiative underway between the affordable housing trust and real estate and open space committee to acquire 6.65 acres of property along Deacon’s Folly Road with an eye toward developing affordable housing and preserving open space. The affordable housing trust voted two weeks ago to file an application, together with the real estate and open space committee, with the community pres...

HARWICH — The affordable housing trust set a few housing development priorities last week and plans to work with the Massachusetts Housing Partnership to evaluate potential housing locations and the number of units that can be placed on certain lots. After considering several available lots, the trust settled on investigating the housing potential of land on Oak Street. The partnership is a quasi-state agen...

HARWICH — Affordable housing and historic preservation projects were identified as priorities as the community preservation committee conducted a public information hearing on needs, possibilities and resources as it looks to allocating Community Preservation Act funds next year. The committee is required by law to hold an informational hearing as it begins seeking applications for funding requests each year. ...

ORLEANS — With the agreement of the board of selectmen, the town's new affordable housing trust will fund the purchase of a half-acre lot on which Habitat for Humanity of Cape Cod will build a two-bedroom ranch home. Voting separately May 1, the board and trust took an initial step toward creating 85 new rental units and 15 home ownership opportunities within the decade, a goal proposed in the recent town ho...

Forum Participants Suggest Ways To Keep Town Vital CHATHAM – Prior to Saturday's Chatham 365 task force forum, Courtney Alex Wittenstein said she wrote a break-up letter to Chatham. “I'm living proof of what's happening here,” said Wittenstein, who grew up in town but lives in Harwich. “I couldn't move here, I couldn't raise my family here, I couldn't start a business here.” During the two-and-a-half-h...

CHATHAM – The task force appointed by the board of selectmen to identify ways to build a more sustainable, vibrant and diverse community will hold two public forums next month to ask residents for their ideas on meeting that goal. The Chatham 365 task force will host the forums on Saturday, April 6 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. and Wednesday, April 10, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Both take place in the large meeting room at ...

EASTHAM — It takes much more than a village to raise affordable and workforce housing like the Village at Nauset Green. To build this $23 million, 65-unit development, it takes three neighboring towns and federal, state and private partners, 11 in all. But most of all, it takes the determination of a community to stick with its vision of broadening its housing stock for well nigh two decades. That persistenc...

CHATHAM – At two public forums last week, residents encouraged the planning board to move forward with a zoning amendment allowing accessory dwelling units in single-family homes, but recommended that limits be placed on the number of units allowed annually and suggested that the language of the bylaw be tightened to prevent abuse. Support was not unanimous, however, with several residents warning that the byl...

CHATHAM – Planning board members hope the public will provide feedback on a revised accessory dwelling unit (ADU) zoning bylaw amendment at two upcoming forums. The bylaw is designed to encourage more diverse housing choices by allowing year-round apartments in single-family homes. While the units will not have affordability restrictions, officials say allowing apartments in homes can help families meet the hi...

CHATHAM – The planning board approved the town's latest housing production plan last week. The document will now to go the board of selectmen for its endorsement before being submitted to the state for certification. An update of the town's 2013 housing production plan, the document provides strategies for reaching the goal of having 10 percent of the town's year-round housing stock classified as affordable. C...

Cape Cod's housing market is a victim of its own success. “We're known around the country as a safe investment,” said Alisa Magnotta Galazzi, CEO of the Housing Assistance Corporation. That's led to a steady increase in seasonal homes – 5,000 in the last six years – and a loss of some 3,000 year-round units in the same period, she said. That trend is a major contributor to the shortage of year-round housing...

CHATHAM – Only a handful of affordable housing units have been built in town since the town last housing production plan, and a draft update of the plan acknowledges reaching the target affordable housing goal is a “formidable challenge.” Currently 5.03 percent of the town's year-round housing stock is considered affordable, half of the 10 percent level established by the state and endorsed in the town's compr...

Affordable Housing Issue 'Irrelevant,' Says Zoning Board CHATHAM – The loss of workforce housing to upscale residences, one of the main concerns of those worried about the inability of young families to afford to live in town, has become a focus of a proposal to replace run-down apartments on Main Street with high-end condominiums. Opponents say the plan will force working people out of what are now four mo...

Town, Citizens Group Commit To Working Together To Address Crisis CHATHAM – Most weekday mornings, traffic traveling east on Route 6 comes to a standstill in Dennis, where the highway narrows into a single lane. Many of the vehicles are heading here, where the occupants work but can't afford to live. “We're becoming a bedroom town,” said Selectman Shareen Davis. The lack of affordable housing here is not...

It's no secret that housing is a problem both locally and Cape-wide. The hot market for seasonal homes has driven costs beyond what's affordable for most working people, and the supply of modest, reasonably priced homes is woefully inadequate. Specifically targeting the need for affordable – and livable – year-round homes for working people, Cape Cod Young Professionals, in partnership with the Cape Cod and Is...

A few weeks ago my rent was raised. While a financial setback for me, I realized after pondering it for a time that it would be, and is likely, a nightmare for others. It's no secret that Cape Cod has a housing problem, and it's time to fix it. But it starts in a place most might not have considered: the mind. For as long as I've lived on this beautiful but complex peninsula there has been a stigma attached to...