Affordable Housing Trust will run Lease to Locals program and extends $293,000 in grant funding through Dec. 31

The Nantucket Affordable Housing Trust voted July 1 to bring the Lease to Locals program into the trust’s administration starting Jan. 1, 2026, and to allow $293,000 in grant funds to be used through Dec. 31, 2025, with any remaining funds rolled into calendar 2026.

The move followed a staff presentation on the program’s history and finances and a request to extend the current grant while the town develops internal capacity and issues an RFP for a program administrator. Christy, a Housing Department staff member, explained the recommendation while Colin, a Placemate representative, reviewed participation and renewal data.

Colin summarized the program’s early results: “So in year 1, which was the pilot year through ActNow, we had 22 properties.” He told trustees that 13 properties were participating in the current grant year and that renewals and new enrollments created a pipeline the office expects to convert in the fall. Staff described a sales cycle of six to nine months to convert short-term or second-home properties to year-round rentals and noted that tenant availability has not been the limiting factor.

Trust discussion focused on two related items: whether to offer stepped renewals for owners who previously participated, and the timing and mechanics of moving administration in-house. Staff described a three-tier incentive structure (full incentive in year 1, 50% for a first renewal, 25% for a second renewal) and proposed surveying current owners to test retention at lower incentive levels. Budget figures presented by staff included an original pilot allocation near $157,000 (year 1), a roughly $406,000 allocation for incentives in the current grant year, about $203,000 remaining to spend through August, and a $293,000 total in potential grants reflected in the current pipeline. The staff recommendation asked trustees to (1) authorize the trust to assume program administration beginning Jan. 1, 2026, (2) extend the current grant period through Dec. 31, 2025 to allow renewals and additional conversions, and (3) direct staff to survey owners about second renewals and model several incentive scenarios.

Trustee Abby De Molina moved to have the Affordable Housing Trust take on the program starting Jan. 1, 2026; the motion was seconded and approved by roll call. De Molina then moved that the trust authorize use of $293,000 in grant funds through Dec. 31, 2025, with any remaining funds rolled into calendar 2026; the motion was seconded and approved by roll call. Trustees also asked staff to return with survey results and scenario modeling at the next meeting on July 15.

During discussion trustees and staff cited several reasons owners declined renewal in earlier rounds, including plans to sell, family circumstances, and owners’ decisions to resume personal or short-term use of a property. Staff noted that in other markets local short-term rental regulations and registration requirements increase retention by limiting the ability to revert to short-term use — a constraint Nantucket does not have.

Next steps: staff will survey owners for interest in second renewals at stepped incentive levels, develop RFP language for program administration, and return with modeling and a fuller Rooted Renters (rental preservation) proposal at the July 15 meeting.