Cape Housing Institute Begins in October

Jim Donaghue and Elizabeth Brown, both of Bourne, were among the 140 municipal officials to take part in last year’s Cape Housing Institute.

HAC and Community Development Partnership (CDP) will kick off the second year of the Cape Housing Institute next month. The six-week workshop is intended for municipal officials throughout Cape Cod, providing them with the support, tools and resources to help boost the development of affordable housing needed in their individual communities. 

Sessions, which will begin on Wednesday, October 3 and end on Thursday, November 8, will be held in four separate sections on Cape Cod. 

Municipal officials on the Upper and Mid-Cape can sign up here. Officials on the Lower and Outer Cape can sign up here. 

 HAC will organize the weekly sessions on the Mid-Cape and Upper Cape which will be held every Thursday. Those 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. Those on the Upper Cape will take place from 6-8:30 pm at the Mashpee Public Library at 64 Steeple Street.

This year’s Cape Housing Institute features a revised curriculum as well as a slate of new and returning speakers. Among those returning are Laura Shufelt, assistant director for community assistance at Massachusetts Housing Partnership.

CDP’s sessions will be held every Wednesday on the Outer and Lower Cape. Those on the Lower Cape will take place from 1-3:30 pm at the Harwich Cultural Center at 204 Sisson Road. Those on the Outer Cape will take place from 6-8:30 pm at the Eastham Public Library at 190 Samoset Road.

The Cape Housing Institute is free and open to elected and appointed officials throughout Cape Cod and the Islands as well as town housing and planning staff.

This year’s institute will be more interactive, allowing participants to engage in workshops so they can better understand their community’s housing needs and ways their municipality can address them.

Each class will focus on a specific topic related to housing development starting with Cape Cod housing needs and telling your town’s data story; an overview of Chapter 40B; planning and community engagement; financing; development; and fair housing and advocacy.

New this year, officials and staff in each town will convene for a post-institute wrap up to determine their community’s next plans of action.