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Shared regional housing services pilot reports progress; 12 towns signal interest in continuing after June
Summary
Barnstable County’s pilot shared regional housing services program reported work products for all 15 towns, contractor engagement and a proposed post‑pilot fee structure. Twelve towns told staff they plan to continue after the June 30 sunset date.
Joseph Pacheco, director of human services for Barnstable County, updated the Assembly of Delegates on March 19 about the pilot shared regional housing services program that began July 1, 2023.
Pacheco said the pilot, funded by an ARPA appropriation of about $308,000, contracted Barrett Planning Group LLC through a public RFP to deliver technical support to all 15 towns. During the pilot each town was eligible to receive 30 hours of local support from Barrett; Pacheco said every town has submitted project hours and Barrett expects to complete the work by the June 30, 2025 sunset date.
Regional services provided outside the 30 local hours included a housing contact database, a Short‑Term Rental/SHI (Subsidized Housing Inventory) repository, summaries of affordable housing trusts, and biweekly drop‑in office hours for municipal staff. Pacheco listed local support requests already provided: drafting RFPs for developments on town land, reviewing expired deed restrictions, SHI compliance checks, 40B training and audit of inclusionary zoning.
Planning for a successor program: Pacheco said staff are designing a post‑pilot structure with a required base fee and optional add‑ons. He provided an estimated baseline cost per participating community of $5,345 for the required regional support; adding a minimum local support package ($1,730) and monitoring services ($2,160) would bring the minimum estimated annual cost to about $9,235 per community. Pacheco cautioned monitoring costs can rise with portfolio complexity.
Twelve of the 15 towns have told staff they would like to continue with a successor program: Barnstable, Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Dennis, Eastham, Falmouth, Orleans, Provincetown, Truro, Wellfleet and Yarmouth. Pacheco said the county is still evaluating which entity would serve as lead for a post‑pilot program and that town procurement rules would guide any contracting. He told delegates there is no plan to charge the county general fund for continuation and that participating towns would be expected to fund their share.
The update closed with an outline of next steps: refine a year‑three scope, select or confirm a lead entity, develop an RFP for hosting services if needed and finalize an intermunicipal agreement. Pacheco invited questions from delegates and noted detailed deliverables from the pilot will be available to towns should the program not continue.
