The Enterprise – Falmouth
By LAURA M. MOYNIHAN
Jan 24, 2025
Safe Harbor status in Massachusetts gives a municipality more control over 40B affordable housing developments when 10 percent of its housing stock is affordable or the state has certified housing production plan efforts. Falmouth reached Safe Harbor this summer. Safe Harbor means more regulation of housing development to protect local interests, but it has notable disadvantages.
Achieving Safe Harbor can reduce the pressure to approve new affordable housing developments and negate the necessity of addressing deeper housing needs. The strict 10 percent measure used to decide Safe Harbor status does not reflect actual housing needs, such as family-sized housing or housing for seniors and people with disabilities. Reaching Safe Harbor status in Falmouth has not reduced the significant demand for affordable housing for our workforce. The Falmouth Housing Production Plan goal is construction of another 280 housing units in four years based on recently approved affordable housing units. The Falmouth Housing Corporation continues to have more than 200 people on its wait-list for one-bedroom rental units.
