seasonal communities

Cape Cod legislators have been advocating for the designation, allows tourism-heavy communities — where many homes are seasonal and housing costs are high — to use new policy tools to support year-round housing.

A law signed last year created the designation to help tourism-heavy towns ease the burden of high housing costs for year-round residents.

The Seasonal Communities Advisory Council is advising the Healey administration on draft regulations aimed at alleviating the housing crisis in tourism-heavy towns.

Gov. Maura Healey signed a housing bond bill worth more than $5 billion, with special provisions for towns that have a high proportion of seasonal homeowners.