Two affordable housing developers received millions in subsidies and tax credits from Massachusetts to add 135 units of affordable housing in Eastham and Yarmouth.
Gov. Charlie Baker's office announced Tuesday that it will allocate $2 million for an affordable housing project at the site of the former Cavalier Motor Lodge on Route 28 in South Yarmouth. That project also will receive $2.55 million in state subsidy funds, according to Samantha-Rae Tuthill, director of marketing at Dakota Partners, the project's developer. The town of Yarmouth will contribute over $2 million in Community Preservation Act funds.
In Eastham, the Campbell-Purcell development off Brackett Road will receive $10 million over 10 years in federal low-income housing tax credits and $875,000 from the state for five years, according to Charlie Adams of the development firm Pennrose Properties.
The Yarmouth Green, as the Yarmouth project is called, will include 69 units spread across three buildings. Seven of the units will be restricted for families earning less than 30 percent of the area median income, according to a statement from Baker's office.
The Eastham project will add 65 rental apartments. That includes 15 units designed as workforce housing, meaning the tenants may earn up to 120% of the area median income. The other units are reserved for those earning 60% and 30% of area median income.
In Yarmouth, the buildings on the property at 881 Route 28 have been demolished, said Mary Waygan, of the Yarmouth Community Development Office.
Eastham's project will be new construction on land the town bought years ago and preserved for affordable housing.
"It's great news," Eastham Town Planner Paul Lagg said. "We're ready for things to start moving."
The town of Eastham contributed $700,000 to the development. The developer will ask for another $400,000 in Community Preservation Act money at the spring town meeting, Adams said.
The Campbell-Purcell project is considered regional affordable housing, which is why the developers will also seek Community Preservation Act funding in the amount of $200,000 each from Truro, Wellfleet and Orleans, he said.
Pennrose aims to break ground this summer, Adams said.
Eastham has the lowest percentage of affordable housing on the Cape at just under 2%. The Campbell-Purcell project will bump it up to about 7%, Town Administrator Jacqueline Beebe said.
Yarmouth Town Administrator Daniel Knapik said town officials are "ecstatic" about the funding announcement. Dakota Partners has already completed its buildings permit applications for the project, and Knapik said he expects work will begin once the funding becomes accessible.
Once the units are built, Knapik said he expects they will fill up quickly.
"Housing and the lack thereof of affordable options continues to be a real plague on the Cape," he said. "It will fill a void in our community."
