Year-round housing subsidies top agenda for Seasonal Communities

Helping towns make year-round housing more affordable will be a top priority this winter for the state’s newly established Seasonal Communities Advisory Council.

The group, established by state law last year, met for the first time in December. It has begun advising the Healey administration on draft regulations aimed at alleviating the housing crisis in tourism-heavy towns.

State Sen. Julian Cyr said one of the first topics the group will address is the creation of community trusts to subsidize housing for year-round residents who don’t qualify for traditional affordable housing.

“The year-round housing trust is the fiscal mechanism by which a town can actually realize … subsidy of attainable housing, of year-round housing,” he said.

Defining “attainable” housing will be part of the council’s work.

“A year-round housing trust, which Nantucket and Provincetown already have, will enable towns to deploy resources for year-round housing across the income spectrum,” he said.

The group will also discuss regulations for subsidized housing for municipal employees, and they will help the administration and the Legislature determine what additional policies could help alleviate the housing crisis, he said.

The council focuses on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Berkshires, though not all towns on the Cape have been automatically designated as "seasonal" under the law. Additional towns may seek the designation.

The council has 14 members so far, predominantly from the Cape and Islands, but also from the Berkshires. They are:

• Housing Secretary Ed Augustus, chairman
• Sen. Julian Cyr, Cape and Islands
• Rep. Kipp Diggs, Cape Cod
• Peter Lombardi, Massachusetts Municipal Association, Brewster
• Alisa Magnotta, Housing Assistance Corporation, Cape Cod
• Kristy Senatori, Cape Cod Commission, Cape Cod
• Laura Silber, Martha’s Vineyard Commission, Martha’s Vineyard
• Thomas Matuszko, Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, Berkshires
• Megan Trudel, Nantucket Planning and Economic Development Commission, Nantucket
• James Anthony, Martha’s Vineyard Bank, Martha’s Vineyard
• Cameron Volastro, Stone House Properties, Berkshires
• Paul Niedzwicki, Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, Cape Cod
• Kevin Galligan, Orleans Select Board, Cape Cod
• Michael Mecenas, Health Ministry, Inc., Cape Cod

Cyr said the council will likely hold in-person meetings in the spring — one in the Cape-and-Islands region and one in the Berkshires.

Municipalities designated as Seasonal Communities, to date, are:

Aquinnah

Chilmark

Edgartown

Gosnold

Nantucket

Oak Bluffs

Tisbury

West Tisbury

Brewster

Chatham

Dennis

Eastham

Harwich

Orleans

Provincetown

Truro

Wellfleet

Alford

Becket

Hancock

Monterey

Mount Washington

Otis

Stockbridge

Tyringham