A Word from Jay...

During a panel discussion among business and housing leaders on the Cape, State Senator Julian Cyr called for “a fundamental reimagining of what we are willing to do” if we are to solve our housing affordability crisis and ensure that we have sustainable year-round communities.

At the CDP we have been working with the eight Lower and Outer Cape Towns for the past four years to take big and bold action because, at the end of the day, our housing crisis will be solved – or not solved – by town leaders.

I’m pleased to report that, for the fourth Town Meeting cycle in a row, our communities have stepped up with major commitments of local funds and approved changes to zoning that will facilitate the creation of more affordable housing.

Orleans Town Meeting approved $2.8M in funding to acquire the 5-acre Gov. Prence Motel site and $2M for the redevelopment of the Cape Cod Five Operations Center into 62 units of rental housing. Towns transferred funds into their affordable housing trusts and Truro, Eastham and Wellfleet all voted to increase their local option rooms tax to 6% using additional revenue for housing.

Wellfleet and Truro revised their Accessory Dwelling By-laws to allow units to be created with less permitting and other restrictions. Wellfleet voted to spend $1.9M on a wastewater treatment facility that will serve the school, public safety facilities, and 46 units of affordable housing currently planned for Lawrence Road. Chatham and Wellfleet established new Affordable Housing Trusts. We will feature a more comprehensive listing of all the actions taken in next month’s E-news.

While this is significant progress, for the hundreds of families being displaced as their rental homes are sold out from under them, time is running out. That’s why we continue to call for dedicating the Town’s short-term rental tax revenue to housing initiatives. With additional local funding, our communities can leverage federal and state resources to create more housing, which is the only way we will solve our housing shortage and protect the economic diversity of our communities.

Thanks for your continued support of our efforts, and for helping us to lead the Lower Cape in building a diverse year-round community of people who can afford to live, work and thrive here.  

Throughout the course of the COVID-19 health crisis, the Community Development Partnership worked to respond to the rapidly changing needs of the Lower and Outer Cape business community. One lifeline offered to businesses was the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Micro-Enterprise Loan. This program, funded through a regional CDBG grant to the Town of Truro through the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, awarded qualified low-to-moderate income small business owners up to $10,000 in forgivable loans.

Businesses could use these funds to pay rent, utilities, staffing costs, or to pivot their business due to COVID-19. Over the past year, the CDP awarded over $400,000 in forgivable loans to 40 local businesses, representing all eight towns on the Lower and Outer Cape. Three businesses were even able to receive additional funding of up to $15,000, and all are on their way to having the loans forgiven. One CDBG loan recipient is Ann Ellis, a massage therapist from Brewster.

What does an affordable housing crisis look like? Its friends or relatives leaving good jobs and moving off Cape because the home they rented for many years is being sold to a second homeowner, or a business being unable to find employees during the busy summer months as well as for year-round positions.

In Chatham, the crisis is exemplified by the ongoing discussion of closing the local elementary school due to a lack of students. The potential loss of the school became a rallying point for Chatham 365, a recently organized grassroots advocacy group.

*Photo: The original Task Force preparing their report, including Brett Tolley in the baseball cap.

We will be taking a break for the Summer, but Community Conversations will resume in September!

This spring the CDP welcomed Marin Reinhardt to its Board of Directors and she is on a mission to help make a difference for young families on the Lower and Outer Cape. Marin, her husband Matt, and their three children live in an affordable home owned by the Eastham Affordable Housing Trust and managed by the CDP. Her first-hand knowledge of affordable housing and the local fishing communities will bring a unique and compassionate perspective to her work on the Board.

Marin and her mother came to the Cape in the 1980s when she was 7, moving in with her grandmother who lived in Brewster. She spent her childhood on the shores of Pleasant Bay learning about the ecology of the area and sharing her knowledge as a summer kayak tour guide for Goose Hummock in Orleans. “I am part of this third-generation where the parents had a change of situation,” says Marin. “They needed a place to land, so they took their child and moved in with their parents on the Cape.” It wasn’t easy making a living on the Cape or finding an affordable place to stay, so for many, it was out of necessity.

Early Bird tickets will be available for $75 until August 1st when tickets will be $100.

You can purchase your tickets here on the CDP's website.

Don't like to bike? You can walk, run, or row to reach your goal. The aim is for participants to get outside, get moving, and have fun! If you are interested in joining Team CDP or learning more about the event contact Britt@capecdp.org.

Our Housing Rehabilitation Program is available to income-qualified residents of Eastham, Truro, and Provincetown. Qualified residents can receive up to $40,000 per household to pay for critical home repairs (like roofing and siding, electrical, heating, and plumbing work), lead paint abatement, and energy efficiency upgrades to keep their properties in good condition for the long term. And with local contractors doing the work, this means money flowing back into our economy.

This spring we launched Phase II of our public media campaign on the housing crisis. To learn more about how housing affects residents here on the Lower and Outer Cape, check out our media campaign!

MGCC is partnering with a crowdfunding platform, Patronicity, to assist low to moderate-income and underserved entrepreneurs, and small business owners with meeting the capital needs of their business through matching grants. The objective of the BIZ-M-POWER grant is to provide entrepreneurs with new knowledge and skills for growing their business and advancing toward innovative approaches to obtaining capital through the earned support of local residents, neighborhoods, community members, and stakeholders alike by raising funding to match the amount requested in their grant application. Eligible MA-based small businesses that have been nominated by MGCC’s SBTA providers may be funded up to $20,000.

Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC) has just launched its Grant Program for the Development of Digital Capabilities on June 15, 2021. With our support, this grant program can potentially provide funding (up to $5k) for tools and services to develop digital capabilities for your small business. MGCC will make these funds available for eligible businesses until funding is fully disbursed. 

Please read more about both programs below and follow the links. If you determine that either of these programs is a fit for your business, please contact pam@capecdp.org or call 508-240-7873 x18. 

If you or someone you know is interested in receiving weekly updates from our Business and Credit Program that are targeted to small businesses, please sign up for our Inside Scoop.

The CDP continues to offer all trainings, workshops, technical assistance sessions, and appointments virtually.

We remain committed to serving our business clients and our community. Staff is working both remotely and from the office. While we are not taking in-person meetings at this time, we will continue to meet with clients via phone or zoom.