The Community Development Partnership (CDP) and the Homeless Prevention Council (HPC) are both deeply rooted in the Lower and Outer Cape and have a long history of working to support the needs of local residents. They have recently joined forces to bring in resources to help ensure residents have access to the support needed to maintain their housing, through project funding from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA). As HPC and CDP have collaborated around common themes of concern for Low to Moderate income residents in our eight Lower and Outer Cape towns (Brewster, Chatham, Eastham, Harwich, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro, and Wellfleet), the most important issue is the extreme shortage of year-round housing.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic brought many new homeowners and remote workers to the Cape, making it fourth in the nation in the percentage of in-migration in 2020, according to the New York Times. The pandemic exacerbated the already existing housing crisis to become a state of emergency, due to its impact on our local real estate market. It has had a particularly adverse effect across the towns of the Lower and Outer Cape, where home prices rose 21.1% (as of February 2022), compared to last year, with homes selling for a median price of $805K. This housing crisis has received national news attention with publications such as The Wall Street Journal noting that Cape Cod has some of the lowest housing inventory in the country.

 

Thanks to the efforts of State Representative Sarah Peake, our two agencies successfully received funding through ARPA to develop the Lower Cape Housing & ADU Resource Center. Rep. Peake lobbied for these funds due to her awareness of our joint ability to address this important community issue. “The CDP and HPC have been working collaboratively for years and have positively influenced the housing crisis on the Outer and Lower Cape. This funding will enable them to continue and expand their work,” stated Rep. Peake.

 

HPC and CDP are pleased to launch the new Lower Cape Housing & ADU Resource Center. The work being done by this partnership, in cooperation with regional leaders, will result in innovative efforts to address our housing crisis. These critical ARPA resources will enable us to implement short- and long-term solutions to our region’s housing crisis, while providing the more immediate supports needed to keep our local residents and workforce stably housed.