Select Board Approves $450,000 In Public Funding For "Lease To Locals" Program

The Select Board unanimously approved $450,000 in public funds for a project that would pay local property owners to rent their homes to year-round tenants at its Wednesday evening meeting.

“A lot of due diligence was done on this program and I think [Housing Director] Kristie [Ferrentella] and the town got it to a really good spot,” Select Board member Tom Dixon said.

An expansion of the so-called “Lease to Locals” pilot program originally founded by the political action group ACK•Now, the initiative offers monetary incentives to homeowners who rent their properties to year-round tenants who make less than 175% of the area median income. The expanded pilot, which received the unanimous support of the Affordable Housing Trust at a recent meeting, would also implement rent caps based on the unit size for landlords who receive funding through the program and limit property ownership groups to receiving a maximum of two grants each.

“The initiative directly aligns with the Select Board’s strategic goal of increasing year-round housing opportunities,” Ferrentella said. “I can say we have done a lot of homework on this program and we are really excited to see it move forward.”

Through the program, the Affordable Housing Trust would work with Housing Nantucket, ACK•Now, and Placemate, Inc., an online platform focused on solving the housing crisis in vacation towns, to increase the supply of year-round housing. According to ACK•Now Community Initiatives executive director Julia Lindner, the pilot program unlocked 22 year-round housing units, including nine that used to be short-term rentals.

Remain (formerly Remain Nantucket) is also providing Lease to Locals with $100,000 to supplement the Town’s funding.

The Select Board did make one alteration to the Affordable Housing Trust’s recommendation: on Ferrentella’s advice, they removed the potential for blood relatives of homeowners to qualify as eligible tenants.