The town of Chatham is doing what may be a first for a Cape Cod municipality: buying a single-family home and reselling it for affordable housing.
A three-bedroom home in Chatham will be sold by lottery, for $385,000, to a family earning up to 100 percent of area median income.
Gloria McPherson, housing and sustainability director for the town, said the deal hinged on altruistic homeowners selling their house to the Chatham Affordable Housing Trust well below market rate.
“If the trust were to purchase a property at market value, and then deed restrict it and sell it, and do any improvements … the cost would be astronomical,” she said.
The trust bought the house at 558 Crowell Rd. for $430,000 and invested additional money in renovations.
“This really worked financially for us because they sold it at such a discounted rate,” she said.
Some towns have purchased land to develop affordable housing for low- or moderate-income residents, as Chatham is doing elsewhere.
But McPherson said she believes this is the first time a community on the Cape or Islands has purchased a single-family home, placed a deed restriction on the home to make it affordable, and readied the home for sale. The town had to follow public procurement and disposition procedures.
The arrangement could become a model for other towns, she said.
“I just think it's a great way of addressing a particular need,” she said. “You'll never solve all your housing problems by doing these one-offs like this, but every bit helps.”
Chatham hired the nonprofit Housing Assistance Corporation to conduct the lottery.
Buyers are subject to income and asset limits. With some exceptions, they must be first-time homebuyers.
Applications for the lottery are due Dec. 15.
