CCB MEDIA PHOTO
Legislators and staff members are on the dias at the 2015 Legislative Breakfast on Housing.
WEST YARMOUTH – Legislative leaders representing the Cape and Islands got a chance to hear from local home builders and Realtors during a breakfast at the Cape and Islands Association of Realtors headquarters in West Yarmouth this morning.
The Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod and the Cape and Islands Association of Realtors presented the 2015 Legislative Breakfast on Housing.
Christine Duren, executive officer of the Home Builders and Remodelers Association of Cape Cod said housing for median-income families is a major issue on the Cape.
“We’re looking for solutions from our legislators that help those people that are in the middle, the working families and the individuals that make more than the income qualifier for [Chapter] 40b, but obviously not enough to buy the majority of homes here on the Cape,” said Duren.
Affordable housing and town zoning regulations were the most discussed issues during the event.
Plymouth and Barnstable State Senator Vinny deMacedo (R-Plymouth) attended the event and agreed that finding housing on the Cape is challenging.
“There are a lot of people challenged by living in this beautiful area because of the fact that it’s very expensive, especially homes that are on the coast and the fact that a lot of people summer here and they buy up the properties, so it makes it difficult for the average person to survive in this area,” said deMacedo.
Cape and Islands State Senator Dan Wolf (D-Harwich) and State Representatives Brian Mannal (D-Barnstable), Randy Hunt (R-Sandwich) and David Vieira (R-Falmouth), as well as Cape Cod Commission Executive Director Paul Niedzwiecki and Barnstable County Commissioner Leo Cakounes were among the Cape Cod officials at the event.
Senator Wolf says that he’s aware of the issues surrounding affordable housing on the Cape.
“One of the challenges I have representing the Cape and Islands is the disconnect between the cost of housing and the fact that because we’re a service industry, we have about 10 percent below state average income. That’s just the reality,” said Wolf.
