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Housing Plan Profile: Provincetown, MA

Plan title: Provincetown Affordable/Community Housing Action Plan; general information about affordable housing in Provincetown is available on Provincetown's Housing Department website.

Issued: December 7, 2006

Overview: The plan was developed by a volunteer task force following a Housing Summit in September 2006, in which residents brainstormed ideas for increasing the supply of housing affordable to year-round residents. Affordability is compromised by the loss of rental housing stock to seasonal residents, the high cost of home ownership, and limited year-round job prospects. Working groups formed to address these challenges, and the corresponding sections in the plan include existing structures, new construction, financing, regional cooperation, and community support. The work of the Implementation work group is still underway, and responsibilities include identifying the appropriate body to implement the plan and securing funding to carry out identified activities.

Photo courtesy of Community Development Corporation of Long Island

Selected Strategies:

Identification of privately- and publicly-owned sites and buildings appropriate for the development of affordable housing.
Encouragement of the use of accessory dwelling units by easing affordability restrictions and simplifying regulatory processes by giving the Building Commissioner special permit granting authority for applications that meet a set of clear requirements.
Expansion of a full property tax exemption for year-round rentals affordable to households earning 60 percent of the area median income (AMI), to include a partial exemption for year-round rentals affordable to households earning 80 percent of the AMI.
Extension of an existing growth management bylaw requiring inclusion of a minimum of 33 percent affordable units in any new housing development, to include commercial properties undergoing conversion to residential units.
Creation of an affordable housing trust fund capitalized with a 1.5 percent transfer fee on the sale of all property and/or room occupancy taxes collected on weekly rentals.
Building support for affordable housing initiatives through the establishment of a roundtable of regional partners and initiation of a regular communications with other community groups.

Financing Sources Identified:

1.5 percent transfer fee on sale of all property (proposed)
Room occupancy taxes from weekly rentals (proposed)
Existing state programs, including earmark request from the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Massachusetts Housing Partnership
Existing federal programs
Philanthropic donations

Background:

Written by the Housing Summit Work Groups composed of 60 volunteer residents, local employees, and others, with technical assistance from consultant John Ryan.

The lead agency is to be decided; the implementation work group is charged with deciding how and through whom implementation should proceed, including the option of establishing an independent local housing office. Other public partners include the Local Housing Partnership, Community Preservation Committee, Building Commissioner, and Outer Cape Affordable Housing Roundtable (to be established).

The timeline identified sets a ten-year horizon for achieving goals, although the plan authors propose a Summit to review progress in November 2007. Production goals are specified in response to affordable housing shortages identified in the needs assessment portion of the plan. The target population includes year-round residents earning less than 80 percent of area median income (AMI), and those earning between 80 and 120 percent of AMI.