How the Affordable Homes Act will affect Cape Cod was the focus of the annual Housing to Protect Cape Cod summit Thursday in Hyannis.
Gov. Maura Healey signed the bill into law this summer.
Town officials from the Outer and Lower Cape said they are waiting to see exactly what regulations the state will write to implement the new “seasonal communities” designation.
Donna Kalinick, assistant town manager in Brewster, said it’s not yet clear if communities who received the designation automatically under the law will have to go to Town Meeting to accept it.
“It's hard to delineate whether or not the Town Meeting process is for the communities who are automatically designated, or for the communities who are trying to opt in,” she said. “So I think clarity around that is step number one.”
The seasonal designation is designed to make it easier for tourism-heavy communities to create year-round housing. For example, it simplifies the process of creating a year-round housing trust.
But it also comes with some requirements, including that communities adopt bylaws to allow year-round homes on undersized lots.
Eastham Town Manager Jacqueline Beebe said she is impressed with the comprehensiveness of the new affordable housing law.
“What I'm looking at, for Eastham, is that renovation money … those tax credits … for converting commercial to housing,” she said. “That fits into what we're trying to do with our new Main Street project really well.”
Some housing advocates say they still need a real estate transfer tax to fund housing initiatives. That provision was left out of the final version of the bill.
The summit was organized by Housing to Protect Cape Cod, a coalition led by Housing Assistance Corporation in Hyannis. Supporters of the coalition include the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, the Cape Cod and Islands Association of Realtors, and the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod.
