Workforce housing has been one way employers on the Cape and Islands have tried to thwart the region's housing shortage and keep enough workers.
Now, Lauren Hakimi of the Provincetown Independent reports, the town of Truro is trying workforce housing for town employees.
CAI's Gilda Geist spoke to Lauren to learn more.
Gilda Geist Tell us about the employee housing in Truro that's ready to be occupied. What does it look like and what need is the town trying to fill by offering this housing?
Lauren Hakimi Truro is eventually expected to have four units of municipal workforce housing. And the intention behind all of these is to make it easier for the town to recruit and retain employees, because as we all know, on the Cape sometimes what happens is that people who are otherwise qualified for a position might not be able to pursue it because they can't find housing within a reasonable commuting distance. And so, in Truro, one of the units at play is this two-bedroom house at 71 North Pamet Road. Town meeting voters approved for the town to lease the house from the Truro Conservation Trust in 2023 for $260,000 for 99 years.
GG You reported that the units are ready to be occupied—at least a couple of them—and the town has more than 100 staff members. So, what's getting in the way of someone moving in right now?
LH Yes, the house at 71 North Pamet is ready for habitation, but the town first has to face some hard questions. And one of the most important questions is who will actually get to live there? Because as you said, Truro has over 100 staff members. And so, what if there are multiple staff members who want to live in the same house? How will the town pick who to prioritize? And the Truro town manager, Kelly Clark, feels it's really important to get this right, because if there's not a systemic way to answer these questions, it could create resentment among some employees, or even be challenged in court. And other questions include: Will it be used for short-term emergency housing, or will it be used for medium-term housing? What if an employee is fired and their whole family has to be evicted? So, these are questions that the town is still struggling with.
GG This is just four units. What does the future of municipal housing look like in Truro?
LH So, as we speak now, the town of Truro is conducting a housing needs survey to try to understand what the demands for housing look like among its existing staff. That survey is due at the end of October, but after that, it's unclear exactly what's going to happen. One of the really surprising moments from the select board's conversation about this was when the town manager raised the suggestion of just abandoning the municipal workforce housing plan and returning the units to the wider community housing stock so that non-employees could also qualify to live there. Now, that's just one of several possibilities that she put on the table, and so right now we just kind of have to wait and see what happens.
GG How might Truro's model be applied to other towns in our region? Does it seem like other towns will be looking to replicate what Truro is doing?
LH Yes, it, it does seem that way. So, Truro right now is ahead of the curve when it comes to municipal workforce housing. Some towns on the Cape have already offered seasonal housing for municipal employees such as lifeguards, but I don't know of any town on Cape Cod that already has year-round municipal employee housing. And so, there was this moment from the select board's conversation where the select board chair said to the housing coordinator, is there any community that is doing this well? And you could hear people laughing at that question, and the housing coordinator basically said, no, not really. And the closest example is Nantucket. So, Truro has been looking to Nantucket as a model, but even Nantucket, which has been doing this for years, is still working out the kinks in their program. And I think the reason why all of this is important is because the state Affordable Homes Act from 2024 gives designated seasonal communities, including most Cape Cod towns, the explicit ability to acquire and develop housing for year-round public employees. And ever since that happened, there's been more chatter around the entire Cape about taking advantage of that and possibly adding year-round municipal workforce housing. Now, in most towns, that's still just an idea that they're talking about rather than a specific plan. But in Brewster, they're upgrading the Westcott House at the former Sea Camps property to use that for town staff housing, but they're not as far along in that project as Truro is.
