Housing Agency Continues to Provide Services During Pandemic

HYANNIS – The Housing Assistance Corporation is continuing to provide services to Cape Cod residents during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We have turned our company into a virtual company as much as possible so we have about 85 of us working from home,” said HAC CEO Alisa Magnotta.

“Our intake department has just gone through the roof with calls with people needing rental assistance and guidance on how to handle their mortgage so they don’t go into foreclosure or lose their house. So we’re continuing on with our operation and having to adapt to this environment but so far we’ve been able to handle the request coming in and the surge of calls.”

Magnotta added that the calls HAC is receiving have increased over 400 percent.

The agency has had to re-deploy to go into the intake department so that they have the staff on hand to meet the demand they are seeing.

Magnotta said HAC’s outreach staff is working with people on Cape Cod who are homeless during the pandemic to provide them with as much assistance as possible.

“We are working with the county and a couple of other regional homeless providers to set up a sanitation site for showering, and charging their cellphones, and food distribution,” said Magnotta.

“We are part of a collaborative effort to make sure that we are taking care of the most vulnerable in our region.”

Most of the funding that comes into HAC is for lower income individuals, however the company is stepping up to help as many people as they can.

“We started a fund called the “Housing Workforce Relief Fund,” and it is for people that are not necessarily low income but lost their job through obviously no fault of their own, and need some bridge funding for a period of time,”

“We have raised over $400,000 to date and we are going to start distributing it here in May, so we have a good chunk of money to start working with.”

The fund uses donations and grant funding from different foundations.

HAC is also continuing its work on affordable homes during the pandemic, including the Lofts at 57.

“As long as we can keep the workers safe on the construction site, we should keep the construction going if we can,” said Magnotta.

“We’ve slowed down a little bit but we’re continuing to keep chipping away at the work that needs to be done there.”

HAC has been overseeing the project on Ridgewood Avenue in Hyannis which will have a total of eight one to two bedroom units, with some being utilized for affordable housing.

Currently the organization is working on putting the final touches on the complex.

There are still units available to rent at the Lofts at 57

Magnotta is hopeful that people who are struggling with rent and mortgages will be proactive during this time.

She said that while she understands times are tough, the payments will still come due and she is hopeful that people will reach out to their landlords or banks to try and set up a payment plan.      

HAC is offering services online, which can be found here.

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