Nantucketers Urge Lawmakers To Pass Housing Bank Legislation

A group of Nantucket’s leaders testified on Beacon Hill Tuesday in favor of a proposed bill that would establish a new tax on high-cost real estate transfers to fund affordable housing initiatives. They spoke out on the impact of Nantucket’s housing crisis on islanders working essential jobs, like teachers and police officers, and the benefits of a reliable stream of revenue, like a transfer fee, to help alleviate what has been described as a $500 million problem.

“I have young teachers who, after a year or two of sharing tiny apartments or moving from seasonal rental to seasonal rental, feel that they have no choice but to leave. Veteran educators who would gladly finish their careers here are pushed away by rising housing costs,” Nantucket Public Schools Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett said. “The need far exceeds our capacity, and a real estate transfer fee would really give us a reliable, local funding stream to preserve year-round housing and help keep educators and families rooted here.”

Every year for over a decade, Nantucket has asked the state for permission to create a so-called Housing Bank funded by a real estate transfer fee paid by the seller, which would work similarly to the Land Bank’s 2 percent transfer fee that the buyer pays. Every year, the state has refused.

“A transfer fee such as this, that has resulted in such great success for the Land Bank, could increase funding for this pressing community need without any negative impacts,” Nantucket Land Bank Executive Director Rachael Freeman said. “The Land Bank is proof that a local transfer fee on Nantucket works.”

Co-sponsored by Representative Thomas Moakley and Senator Julian Cyr, Nantucket’s representatives in the legislature, this year’s version of the bill would institute a seller-paid 0.5% transfer fee on property sales over $2 million.

“Our housing crisis threatens our ability to provide essential services today and in the future,” Nantucket Chief of Police Jody Kasper said. “The real estate transfer fee will not solve every aspect of our housing crisis, but it is one of the strategies that will make a real difference. This measure, alongside other solutions, will allow the people who serve our community to remain part of it and to continue providing vital services.”

Housing advocates believe that the transfer fee is a critical tool that would provide guaranteed, flexible funding for affordable housing. Nantucket Housing Director Kristie Ferrentella said that last year alone, the fee could have generated $4 million.

“In recent years, voters have committed over $150 million of taxpayers' funds to affordable housing. We've tripled our subsidized housing stock, we've launched a lease-to-locals program, we've adopted every zoning change,” Ferrentella said. “But the real estate transfer fee offers something additional to our toolbox. It would empower us to generate our own local, dedicated funding stream. Revenue that stays in the community to meet our urgent housing needs.”

But the state legislature has always been skeptical. The transfer fee has long been opposed by key members of the legislature’s leadership and has also drawn sharp criticism from the Massachusetts Association of Realtors.

Nantucket’s real estate agents, however, mostly disagree with the state association.

“[The Nantucket Association of Real Estate Brokers] has voted numerous times to support the Nantucket fee legislation over the last decade,” said Nantucket Association of Real Estate Brokers former president Penny Dey, who also serves as the Nantucket Affordable Housing Trust vice chair and Nantucket Housing Authority chair. “I urge you to let Nantucket have the tools to do what is right for our community.”

Other islanders who testified included Select Board member Brooke Mohr, Housing Nantucket executive director Anne Kuszpa, Nantucket Planning and Economic Development chair Abby De Molina, Nantucket Preservation Trust executive director Mary Bergman, and Affordable Housing Trust member Forest Bell.

With the hearing concluded, he bill remains pending before the committee on revenue. A vote before the House has not yet been scheduled.