Housing Nantucket Sees Huge Demand During Affordable Apartment Lottery

As Nantucket’s housing crisis continues unabated and the island’s median single-family price reaches a new record of $3.55 million, local non-profit Housing Nantucket saw record demand in its recent lottery for six affordable apartments in its new development off Fairgrounds Road.

The so-called “Wiggles Way” development is Housing Nantucket’s latest project that will include 22 apartments across eight buildings at 31 Fairgrounds Road. The deadline to enter the lottery for one of the six apartments available to households making 80 percent of Nantucket’s area median income or less was July 2, and Housing Nantucket received 176 applications.

“This was the highest demand we have seen for any recent lottery,” Housing Nantucket executive director Anne Kuszpa told the Current.

Those six affordable apartments being made available through the lottery include:

• One three-bedroom, two-bath apartment, designed for ambulatory disability
• Three two-bedroom, 1.5-bath apartments
• Two one-bedroom, one-bath apartments

All but one of the 176 lottery applications came from island residents, and the submissions are being vetted now for eligibility requirements. The development also includes six "municipal preference units" for town and school employees. The remaining 10 apartments will be allocated to those on Housing Nantucket's "ready to rent" waiting list, which currently includes 883 households.

The goal, Kuszpa said, is to have the first units occupied by October 1st. The rents charged by Housing Nantucket will vary depending upon the size and based on the tenant’s income but will range from $2,100 per month for a one-bedroom unit, up to $3,400 per month for a three-bedroom unit available to tenants making up to 150 percent of area median income.

The $18.3 million project (including the $3.6 million paid for the acquisition of the land) began back in 2021. Housing Nantucket had initially stated that it expected tenants to be able to move in in February 2023, but the construction effort has cost more than taken longer than originally anticipated.

“It feels like a long road but I’m reminded, when you compare it to other projects the town is involved in, these big builds, every day feels like an eternity but when you look at the big picture, it hasn’t taken that long,” Kuszpa said. “All the units in the project are going to house year-round residents and workers. We don’t have any other projects like this on the island

Sachem’s Path is home ownership, but this is rental. It’s an investment for sure, but it’s going to be beautiful and serve a lot of people who need housing.”

The 176 households that submitted applications to Housing Nantucket self-certified to participate in the lottery, so the non-profit is now verifying the eligibility of those households in the order their names were drawn. That process involves reviewing tax returns, employer verification, bank statements, landlord references, and credit checks.

The Wiggles Way affordable housing development began in 2021 when the family of Fred "Wiggles" Coffin - who passed away in 2004 - decided to sell its two-acre property at 31 Fairgrounds Road to Housing Nantucket for $3.6 million. The non-profit was able to complete the acquisition with taxpayer funds from the town's Affordable Housing Trust, which were approved by Town Meeting voters in 2019 as part of the so-called "Neighborhood First" program.

To date, the town has contributed approximately $12.7 million toward the project, including an additional $2.5 million that was approved by the Select Board last July. Former municipal housing director Tucker Holland told the board at the time that approximately $8.4 million of the project costs is structured as a loan, meaning it will be repaid to the town.

A nearly $1 million solar power component at the development, in which solar panels were installed atop a parking pergola - is the first of its kind on Nantucket. The solar addition was supported by a grant from Remain.