Progress, but with a long way to go.

EDITORIAL BY ALISA MAGNOTTA

Winter has a way of bringing urgency to housing challenges. For us, the cold months bring into sharp focus the steady loss of year-round housing on the Cape and the growing number of neighbors who are just one unexpected setback away from losing housing stability.

This winter has already been volatile and strenuous. Since the first big snowstorm in late January, our outreach teams have worked tirelessly to help approximately 20 homeless individuals find safe winter solutions. Every single person who called in need of shelter was placed. We have housed many in hotel rooms across the Cape and connected others with partner programs. We are currently supporting more clients than at any point last winter.

We all know why the Cape’s housing crisis exists. There are two-bedrooms on the Cape renting for $3,200; the median sale price is nearly $800,000. To make rent or a mortgage payment, households need to earn $200,000 per year.

That reality puts stable housing out of reach for the people who make the Cape run – our teachers, public safety professionals, and hospitality workers – and older residents living on fixed incomes. Because this is untenable for so many, Housing Assistance works to fill in the gaps.

In 2025, we worked across the full spectrum of housing to help our homeless and vulnerable neighbors secure a safe place to live. We focused on creating new ownership and rental opportunities and welcomed families into 95 new homes in Bourne, Orleans and Mashpee. In Hyannis, we moved into a modern headquarters to make way for our partners at Catholic Charities and Duffy Health Center to relocate St. Joseph’s House shelter to a larger, more accessible space in our former offices. We also opened the Cape’s first transitional housing for youth and young adults at the former Angel House in Hyannis. In Dennis, we consolidated three family shelters into the Family Empowerment Center, with a capacity to house up to 79 families with children.

We have begun construction on Cornerstone Hyannis, a homeownership project on Stevens Street in Hyannis that will bring 50 brand new condominiums to the market, with income restrictions geared toward buyers who are earning 100 to 120 percent of the area median income.

With all of this progress, we still have a long way to go. We recently conducted a lottery for 14 affordable units that we developed in Orleans. There were over 500 applicants; only three percent had their number drawn for a home. The other 97 percent had to hope and dream that they would have better luck next time.

This is why your support matters so deeply. Your partnership allows us to respond to the urgent needs in our community while continuing to build toward lasting solutions – from new development to smart policy efforts – that expand year-round housing opportunities.

At the policy level, we are supporting modest changes in the zoning code to allow for small-scale yet effective additions to the housing supply. Efforts are underway in Falmouth and Orleans to revise zoning regulations in denser town centers to allow expanded housing options. More Cape towns need to do the same.

Sewer installation is also very important. Towns on the Cape are now adding sewer systems, and this not only removes contaminants from our soil and our waterways but also provides the capacity for slightly denser housing than that afforded by septic systems.

We will continue to be an outspoken advocate for the creation of more housing on the Cape and look forward to sharing more about the priorities that will guide our work with the release of our upcoming Strategic Plan.

We won’t rest until everyday Cape residents can afford a decent place to live.

With gratitude,

Alisa