Affordable Housing Trust Endorses Additional Funding For "Lease To Locals" Program

The Affordable Housing Trust is allocating another $550,000 to its Lease to Locals housing program, which pays property owners on Nantucket to rent their homes to year-round tenants.

Now entering its third year, Lease to Locals has housed 102 people across 44 properties. Of the 22 properties covered in the first year of the program, 77 percent renewed for year two, and a similar renewal rate is expected for the third year. The program continues to add new properties as well.

The AHT provided $450,000 for an expanded pilot of the program last year, supplemented by an additional $100,000 from local non-profit Remain. This year, the program is launching in full, with Nantucket housing director Kristie Ferrentella confirming it is no longer a pilot.

The AHT voted to take over the program from Housing Nantucket in 2026 earlier this year. The program was initiated on-island by political action group ACK Now, in part as an effort to convert short-term rentals on Nantucket to year-round rentals. With Lease to Locals out of its hands, ACK Now is shuttering its Community Initiatives program.

“We’re extremely grateful to everyone who has helped move the program forward,” Carl Jelleme, President for ACK Now Community Initiatives, said. “Now that our work is over, we will be winding down ACK Now Community Initiatives and donating remaining funds, after expenses, to the Town.”

Last month, ACK Now said that 21 of the properties covered by Lease to Locals were previously short-term rentals. The data presented to the AHT groups short-term rentals with seasonal and monthly residences and puts the number at 25.

Leas to Locals is a collaboration with Placemate, Inc., an online platform focused on solving the housing crisis in vacation towns. Ferrentella said that bringing the program under the AHT will allow the Town to consolidate its housing efforts as it builds on the success Lease to Locals has already seen.