Lottery Numbers Show Local Housing Need

ORLEANS – The units that make up the housing development at the former Cape Cod 5 headquarters on West Road are in the process of being rented out. But the number of applications received for the project demonstrates the high demand for affordable and workforce housing in the region.

 Elizabeth Jenkins, the town’s assistant director of planning and community development, said that there were 616 applicants for the 62 units.

 “You have 10 people…for one unit,” she said. “It just shows that there is a huge unmet need.”

Ground broke on the property, which was developed by Pennrose and is now going under the name Phare, in spring of last year. All of the units will be rented as affordable housing. Those include 10 that will be rented to individuals who make up to 80 percent of the area median income in Barnstable County, 43 that will be rented to those who make up to 60 percent of AMI and nine that will be rented to those who make up to 30 percent of AMI.

 The project also includes local preference for people who live, work or have children attending school in Orleans. More than half of the 616 applicants qualified for local preference, Jenkins said.

A lottery was held in April where applicants were selected at random to go through an application process for the units in the 60 to 80 percent income range. Those who were not selected have been placed on a waiting list. They will be contacted as units become available in the future. The remaining nine units at 30 percent will be rented through the state’s rental voucher program.

The Phare development is one of a number of housing projects currently in the pipeline in Orleans. Housing Assistance Corporation closed its lottery for 14 units that will soon go online at 107 Main St. Christina Wiseman, a spokesperson for HAC, said last week that the units are expected to be ready for occupancy in October. 

While final numbers were not available last week, Wiseman said “close to 400” people applied through the project lottery as of a few weeks ago. 

“I think it’s that perfect example of missing middle housing that everybody is after, that sort of small-scale style development,” Jenkins said of 107 Main St. “I’m just thrilled about that project.”

Jenkins said the data surrounding the lotteries, including the number of people who applied for the project, can help direct the town and other housing agencies’ future efforts to create more local housing. For the Phare project, applicants covered a wide swath of the population, she said, with about half earning 60 percent or less of area median income and the other half earning 50 percent or more.

As area median income continues to rise along with the cost of goods and services, Jenkins said the demographics around who qualifies for affordable housing have changed, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“More people are becoming housing insecure and qualifying for these types of housing that you might not have thought of as the type of individual who is looking for subsidized housing in the past,” she said. “It is a broader cross section of our year-round population.”

Also on the radar for development is the former Governor Prence Inn, which the town purchased for $2.9 million in 2021. HAC, Preservation of Affordable Housing and Habitat for Humanity Cape Cod have joined together on a proposal to build 78 units on the 5.5-acre site. Plans call for 61 rental units and an additional 17 that will be set aside for affordable and attainable homeownership.

Jenkins said the developers are awaiting the go-ahead from the state Department of Housing and Livable Communities to move forward with the project as a 40B development. With that, she said the project could go before the zoning board of appeals for review for a comprehensive permit sometime this fall. Demolition of the existing Prence structures also could get underway in the coming months, she said.

Further down Route 6A near the Brewster town line, ground has broken on 29 units at the site of the former Underground Mall. That project is being independently financed by Chris DeSisto of Maple Hurst Builders.

When all is done, 183 housing units will be brought online in Orleans between the four projects. And with last year’s passage of the Affordable Homes Act, which pledges $5.1 billion for the creation, preservation and conversion of housing over the next five years, Jenkins is hopeful that the town can continue to build on its momentum. The bill also included a seasonal communities designation that creates further avenues and incentives for the creation of housing locally.

“We’re getting pretty good across the Cape at subsidizing rental development,” she said.