HYANNIS – Officials with the Housing Assistance Corporation are inviting local municipal leaders to take part in their 2018 ‘Cape Housing Institute’ this October.
Now in its second year, the Cape Housing Institute is a collaborative effort between HAC and Community Development Partnership to provide municipal officials throughout the Cape with the support, tools, and resources to boost affordable housing development in their individual communities.
“This was really the brain child of Jake Coburn of Community Development Partnership. He was thinking to himself that it would be valuable to our volunteer boards and committees, throughout the Cape, to have a training to learn the ins-and-outs of affordable housing, so that they are better able to negotiate with developers, that they know all the details about affordable housing, and why it’s important,” said Laura Reckford, HAC’s Director of Community Relations.
The institute takes place over the course of six weeks and will cover the following topics: Cape Cod housing needs; an overview of Chapter 40B; planning and community engagement; financing affordable housing projects; affordable housing development; and fair housing and advocacy.
“The Cape Cod Commission launched a housing market study last year and we learned that over 20,000 units are needed on the Cape,” said Andrea Aldana, Director of Housing Advocacy for the Community Development Partnership.
“If that was available, the rates that people could actually afford, they would be gobbled up in a moment, and so certainly the housing crisis is true across the Cape.”
New this year, wrap-up sessions will be held in each town that will allow municipal officials to discuss how they can use what they learned in the institute to develop a plan of action that allows them to move forward with their community’s housing goals.
HAC is organizing weekly sessions every Thursday, from October 4 to November 8, on the Mid-Cape and Upper Cape. Sessions on the Mid-Cape will take place from 1-3:30 pm at the Cape Cod & Islands Association of REALTORS at 22 Mid-Tech Drive in West Yarmouth. Sessions on the Upper Cape will take place from 6-8:30 pm at Mashpee Public Library at 64 Steeple Street.
The sessions are free and open to elected and appointed officials throughout Cape Cod and the Islands as well as town housing and planning staff.
The institute will feature over a dozen speakers from throughout Massachusetts who are experts in the field of affordable housing development.
In order to attend the institute, participants must pre-register. Those on the Upper and Mid-Cape can do so at capehousinginstitute.org.
Those on the Lower and Outer Cape should register on the CDP’s website at www.capecdp.org. Priority deadline for registration is Thursday, September 27.
Those who attend all six sessions will receive a certificate of completion.
By JOHN BONDAREK, CapeCod.Com News Center
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