Committee recommends extending regional shared-housing consultant arrangement funded by ARPA; HOME consortium update

Staff told the committee on Feb. 10 that the regional shared housing resources program—managed by Barrett Planning as part of a Cape-wide effort—has been funded with ARPA money and the initial funding ends June 30, 2025. Mary (staff member) recommended the Affordable Housing Trust subscribe to continue consulting hours because the towns will likely need continued consultant support beyond the ARPA end date.

Mary said the program’s basic option provides a hotline and office hours every other week, with higher tiers offering special project consulting and monitoring. She estimated the program costs roughly $98,000 per year under current configurations and said Yarmouth is using the first 30 hours for Mattaquese-related work; the committee agreed a continued subscription with additional consulting hours would be useful.

Committee members said the shared-resources calls have increased regional coordination among Cape housing staff and made subsequent regional planning conversations—such as the Cape Cod Commission’s Local Comprehensive Plan outreach—more productive. Staff said the Trust will consider extending the contract at its Feb. 18 meeting.