The Barnstable County Assembly of Delegates passed a resolution Wednesday 14-1 declaring a housing crisis on Cape Cod.
The resolution calls on the county administrator to put together a working group to help develop regional housing solutions.
Few Cape Cod year-rounders would argue with the idea that the region suffers from a housing crisis.
Deputy Speaker of the Assembly Dan Gessen, who introduced the resolution, explained the significance of making the housing crisis official.
“Declaring it does have a certain meaning to it when it comes from folks in positions of power,” he said. “The policies of the governments that we currently have have failed the community in certain respects, and have singularly created this crisis on the Cape.”
Gessen also explained how his vision for the task force fits in with the Cape Cod Commission's regional housing strategy, which was released last summer.
“What the Cape Cod Commission did is they gave us a high-level overview of all these options that are available at each level of government,” he said. “Our thought process here is to take what the Cape Cod Commission created and see which of those suggestions are specifically applicable to our home rule charter at the county level.”
While a lot of the power to alleviate the housing crisis lies at the town level, Gessen said, the county should still be doing its part to help.
“The county's probably not going to be able to transform zoning. That's going to take collaboration with municipal leaders. But the county should be able to reward housing that allows year-round people to stay here.”
Next, the resolution will go to the Barnstable County Board of Regional Commissioners for a vote.
