Local Communities Receive Housing Choice Initiative Designation

Governor Charlie Baker

BOSTON – Several local communities were recognized by the state for their commitment to increase housing production.

The Baker-Polito Administration designated Barnstable, Mashpee, Nantucket, Orleans, Plymouth, Provincetown and Truro as Housing Choice Communities.

The Housing Choice Initiative seeks to create 135,000 new housing units by 2025. The initiative, which was announced in December 2017, includes a new set of incentives and rewards for municipalities committed to sustainable housing growth in their communities.

“Our administration’s Housing Choice Initiative aims to maximize collaboration between state agencies, support innovation and data-driven policies, and provide cities and towns across the Commonwealth with tools to drive housing production in their communities,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “We are pleased to celebrate the first municipalities participating in the program and look forward to working with the Legislature to pass the Housing Choice Initiative to create more housing opportunities across Massachusetts.”

Communities which received the designation have produced a total of almost 60,000 new housing units over the last five years. The communities will be able to take advantage of new financial resources, including access to new Housing Choice Capital Grants, and preferential treatment for many state grant and capital funding programs.

MassHousing also announced Planning for Housing Production technical assistance grants to 15 communities, including Oak Bluffs, Tisbury and Truro.

The grants help municipalities achieve their affordable housing goals and deliver new mixed-income housing in a manner that is consistent with local priorities.

Oak Bluffs will conduct predevelopment feasibility work, including wastewater planning, financial feasibility, a zoning review, and preliminary site engineering, on a Town-owned parcel, advancing the development of up to 60 new affordable housing units.

Tisbury will advance a public-private partnership between the Town, the Island Housing Trust, and the Island Food Products Corp., to transform a 4-acre industrial site near downtown Vineyard Haven to as many as 80 new affordable homes. The MassHousing award will support extensive predevelopment work at the site, including financial feasibility, site planning, infrastructure planning, and rezoning.

Truro will design a water line extension that will support the redevelopment of a Town-owned parcel into 32 new housing units. The property, which was acquired by the Town from MassDOT, is being developed under the Baker-Polito Administration’s Open for Business initiative. The municipality plans to apply for $150,00 in MassWorks construction funding.

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