As a Cape Cod native and the head of a third-generation business, Matt Cole has seen the Cape change – for good and bad.

“As Cape Codders, we’re really good at slowing progress and slowing development,” said Cole, the president and CEO of Cape Associates, a custom building and remodeling company founded by his grandfather in 1971. “As a builder that can be frustrating. As a resident, I’m glad it doesn’t look like the Jersey Shore around here, but at the same time, we’ve really underbuilt for the last 20 or 30 years, and now we have an acute housing crisis.”

Cape Associates has been a key contributor to Housing Assistance since 2011 and recently made a major donation to support the relaunch of the Rent 365 program (see page 6).

“When you hear the stories of someone that you know, or someone who is a couple degrees of separation away, is displaced because a house gets sold and they can no longer rent it, it hits close to home,” he said. “It certainly affects our employees and our ability to grow our business. Beyond that it affects the quality of life, like when the restaurants and other businesses that you want to go to aren’t open seven days, because the owners can’t staff them. It’s not someone else’s problem. It’s everyone’s problem, because everyone’s quality of life is threatened by a limited workforce.”

Cole said Housing Assistance has an important role to play in addressing the housing crisis. “The number of projects developed, the number of units being built, the number of units in the pipeline, the housing that Housing Assistance owns and keeps as rental housing – I think the results speak for themself,” he said. “ We need more housing units, we need more production and results matter.”

Cape Associates supported the pilot program for THRIVE and has participated as an event sponsor and an annual corporate sponsor over the years. Cape Associates employees also lent their expertise to many Big Fix projects over the years. Cole also has supported new initiatives, such as the Housing to Protect Cape Cod coalition and Cape Associates co-sponsored the publication of “Unlocking the Potential,” a special report on ADUs (accessory dwelling units).

In another example of Cape Associates’ longtime support of Housing Assistance, Rich Bryant, executive vice president, was the top individual fundraiser for the 2022 Walk for Hope and has run the Falmouth Road Race to raise funds for Housing Assistance.

“We continue to stay connected with Housing Assistance and have increased our support over the years simply because I think that the housing issue is the number one threat to our community,” Cole said. “Housing Assistance is making a difference.