Work On Falmouth Main Street Senior Housing 70 Percent Complete
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By ELIZABETH SAITO
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Mar 8, 2024
With close to 50 workers on the job site every day, the senior affordable housing complex on the corner of Scranton Avenue and Main Street is galloping toward its targeted August occupancy date.
On Wednesday, March 6, the Enterprise took a tour with Linda Clark, director of the Falmouth Housing Corporation, to get a look inside the three-story building, now a prominent feature in the downtown landscape.
“People were upset with the size of it,” Ms. Clark said. “But once the siding goes up, it will have a whole different appearance.”
Ms. Clark said she walks through the building nearly every day with a sense of excitement.
“This is my favorite apartment,” she said walking into a third-floor corner room with a view overlooking the harbor. The drywall in this unit was freshly installed.
The first and second floors of the building, however, looked more like a construction site, with wires threaded behind open walls, ladders everywhere and equipment and boxes taking up any spare space.
The complex includes 47 one-bedroom apartments and one studio. Residents must be at least 62 years old. Some of apartments will be reserved for people making below 60 percent of the area median income, which is $48,000 for a one-person household. They will pay $1,295 in rent, with utilities included.
The remaining apartments will be for people making below 30 percent of the median income, or $24,000.
While there has been some grumbling around town that Falmouth needs more workforce housing, not housing for seniors, Ms. Clark responded by saying, “It was the greatest need.”
She said the eight waitlists the housing corporation maintains for its other properties can be hundreds of people long, and seniors make up the majority.
She noted that the senior center is across the street from the new building and Windfall Market is a short walk along Scranton Avenue.
“It’s perfect all around for seniors,” she said.
Seventy percent of the apartments, the maximum allowed by law, will be reserved for residents who already either live or work in Falmouth.
“We’re here to help our community,” Ms. Clark said.
Ms. Clark was eager to highlight the building’s many amenities: a third-floor seating deck with an awning that automatically retracts in high winds, a putting green, a function room big enough for birthday parties and family reunions, a social services office where staff will help residents manage their doctor’s appointments, sign up for food assistance and connect with other social services.
The $27 million project is being funded with a panoply of state, federal and local funds. The town contributed $3.8 million out of its Affordable Housing Fund, and the Cape Light Compact chipped in $1.9 million to ensure the heating and cooling systems were all electric. The housing corporation took out a $3.3 million mortgage to cover the remaining costs.
The deadline to submit an application to enter the housing lottery is April 16. Qualified applicants will then be chosen at random.
For more information email the Falmouth Housing Corporation at lottery@falmouthhousingcorp.org or call 508-540-4009.
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Construction of the new affordable housing complex started in April of 2023.
Linda Clark standing in what will become the community room
Construction of the new affordable housing complex started in April of 2023.
GOVERNOR BAKER VISITS FALMOUTH TO DISCUSS AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Governor Charles D. Baker Jr. paid a visit to Little Pond Place yesterday, July 22, to participate in a roundtable discussion with local officials to discuss affordable housing on Cape Cod.
Among the participants were Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito, Secretary Mike Kennealy, State Senator Susan Moran, Eric T. Turkington Falmouth Housing Corp Board Chair, Phillipe Jordi of the Island Housing Trust and Tara Mizrahi, Executive Vice President of Affirmative Investments Inc. The meeting was held in the community center at Little Pond Place, where Gov. Baker was given a tour of one of the residential units that were completed last summer. Little Pond Place is a 40-unit family development near the central business district in Falmouth.
Governor Baker was very open to listening and understanding the importance of creating affordable housing in the Cape. Mr. Turkington proposed the latest plan to create more housing opportunities in Falmouth. The latest plan of zoning modifications, such as the mixed-use overlay district, which would foster the creation of diverse housing opportunities as well as stimulate the local economy. He explained how the plan would allow for 20 units per acre by right—25 percent of which will be affordable housing—and stressed the importance of expanding the housing market on Cape Cod, which is currently 92 percent single-family homes. Ms. Mizrahi discussed some of the unique challenges of developing on the Cape and Islands focusing on the very high costs of construction and infrastructure.
To read more about the roundtable discussion/ comments from Governor Baker, and other participants click here.
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GIFFORD WORKFORCE PHASE 2
Construction is moving along well on the Falmouth Housing Corporation's Gifford Workforce II project. Ten new one-bedroom workforce apartments will be ready to be called home in early 2022!
GIFFORD WORKFORCE PHASE 1
The Falmouth Housing Corporation along with Affirmative Investments have developed 10 units of workforce housing at 587 Gifford Street, in Falmouth. All the units are one-bedroom, in an effort to serve the community of year-round single workers on Cape Cod, for whom finding quality affordable housing is a significant challenge. This project is phase one of a two-phase development which will in total include 20 one-bedroom workforce housing units on site. Phase one is proposed as two buildings, one two floor six-unit building, and one two-floor four-unit building. The FHC owns the land on which this project was developed as it is part of a larger site that houses 36 affordable units that the FHC built and continues to manage.
FHC IN THE NEWS - PARTNER PROFILE: PANDEMIC DIDN'T STOP FALMOUTH HOUSING CORP.
(Partner Profiles is a new periodic series by MHP that takes a look at people and organizations that are creating affordable housing and making their communities stronger).
FALMOUTH --- One of most effective and important local partners MHP works with is the Falmouth Housing Corporation (FHC), which has been addressing the emergency and long-term housing needs of lower-income individuals and families for 25 years.
Founded in 1996, FHC has created 243 affordable apartments during a time when Falmouth’s overall housing production has declined. FHC’s determination to serve Upper Cape households who need it most was evident during the pandemic, as it completed 50 more affordable apartments while working every day to make sure its existing residents remained healthy and safe in their homes.
“This past year has tested us,” said Linda Clark, FHC’s executive director earlier this year. “From our supportive services staff making sure that no tenants fell behind in their rent to our management staff holding lotteries so that 50 households could move into our new homes to our maintenance staff making sure our residents had what they needed, we are proud that we have lived up to the immense challenge of COVID-19.“
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THE FALMOUTH HOUSING CORPORATION PARTNERED WITH AFFIRMATIVE INVESTMENTS TO DEVELOP LITTLE POND PLACE, WHICH FEATURES 40 AFFORDABLE APARTMENTS AND A COMMUNITY ROOM.
May 7, 2020
THE FALMOUTH HOUSING CORPORATION'S NEWEST AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMPLEX
Tenants Move into Falmouth's Newest Affordable Housing Complex
After five years of searching for a home suitable for herself and her two daughters, Heidi Wright started moving boxes into her new town home on Monday, September 14.
“It’s so beautiful...I feel really blessed,” the Falmouth resident said.
Ms. Wright signed a lease with the Falmouth Housing Corporation for a two-level, two-bedroom unit at Falmouth’s newest affordable housing complex, Little Pond Place. The rent is hundreds of dollars lower than most rentals in Falmouth at $1,247 per month, including utilities.
“It’s been really difficult to find a place for us after my divorce. You find a listing, and it’s almost immediately taken before you can look at it,” said Ms. Wright, who works full-time at the Sea Crest Beach Hotel at the front desk and in housekeeping.
She and her girls were living above a restaurant on Main Street paying $1,600 a month for a unit she described as old, dated and very noisy.
“I am so relieved to be in a nice place now. My girls were so excited when they saw it, especially that there are two levels of living space. My younger daughter started crying, she is so happy. And for me, to now have one and a half baths is a blessing with teenagers,” she said.
All 40 units at Little Pond Place are affordable, with most rented to those whose yearly salaries are less than 60 percent of the area’s median income—or a maximum of $54,900 for a family of four. Rents are between $1,029 and $1,428 per month depending on the number of bedrooms.
Little Pond Place includes 14 one-bedroom units, 22 two-bedroom units and four three-bedroom units across four buildings. Four units will be reserved for individuals and families with extremely low incomes who are making 30 percent of area median income.
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Heidi Wright carries some of her daughter’s paintings into a town home at Little Pond Place, Falmouth’s newest affordable housing complex.
GENE M. MARCHAND/ENTERPRISE
Little Pond Place has gone vertical.
Located on Spring Bars Road, Little Pond Place will offer 5 one-bedroom, 21 two-bedroom and 4 three-bedroom units, spread across four buildings on land to the west of Little Pond. All 40 units will be affordable.
Over the next two years, the Falmouth Housing Corporation hopes to add 20 single-bedroom units of workforce housing on Gifford Street, with consulting from Affirmative Investments. The units will be rented at affordable rates. Small, affordable units for local workers have been a consistent need in the town of Falmouth. The board of Selectmen Chairwoman Susan Moran called the proposal “a great move forward for Falmouth.” The project will be built in two phases, and monthly rents will range from $808 to $1,150, depending on the applicants income. All utilities are included in the rent. FHC submitted an application to the Department of Housing and Community Development seeking funding for Phase 1, which calls for 10 units in two buildings and is estimated to cost $2.5 million. The selectmen and Community Preservation Committee agreed to pitch in $650,000 from the town’s affordable housing fund last week. The board acts as the fund’s trustees. infrastructure for the whole project, including a septic system. Phase 2 is expected to cost less.
NEWS & VIEWS
Little Pond Place will bring 40 affordable housing units to town.
FALMOUTH — State officials praised the community for its strong commitment to providing affordable housing during a Tuesday tour of the construction site for a 40-unit project slated to open next year.
“It takes incredible collaboration of state, local, nonprofit organizations and developers,” said Michael Kennealy, Massachusetts secretary of economic development.
Located on Spring Bars Road, Little Pond Place will offer 15 one-bedroom, 21 two-bedroom and four three-bedroom units, spread across four buildings on land to the west of Little Pond.
The area is on town water and sewer lines and situated near Falmouth’s commercial center.
All 40 units will be affordable, with most of them rented to those whose yearly salaries are less than 60 percent of the area’s median income — or a maximum of $54,900 for a family of four — according to figures from the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Four units will be restricted to those whose incomes fall below 30 percent of the area’s median, or $27,450 for a family of four.
Housing is hard to find on the Cape, said Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, who noted that second homes gobble up a large percentage of the region’s available stock.
“With the second-home dynamic, it makes it far more challenging to find workforce housing,” Polito said.
Falmouth has two affordable housing initiatives underway.
The Little Pond Place project, along with plans for 10 new affordable units on Gifford Street, “serves as an example of what we need throughout the commonwealth,” Polito said.
Getting Little Pond Place to where it is today was not an easy task.
Selectman Samuel Patterson said it remains a challenge to overcome prejudices related to such housing. The phrase “affordable housing” still draws to mind the image of massive high-rises, and sometimes still results in “not in my backyard” backlash.
“Every time a project comes before the zoning board, there’s a huge uproar,” Patterson said. “We have to work on that.”
Debate over the Spring Bars Road property has been going on since 2006, when the land was privately owned. A developer had proposed a 168-unit rental project under the state’s Chapter 40B affordable housing laws, but the plan did not get local support.
In 2010, the property owner agreed to sell the 21 acres to the town for $3 million. Much of the cost was covered by Community Preservation Act funding and a state grant.
Under Community Preservation Act restrictions, the site would be used for affordable housing and open space. A little over 11 of the 21 acres has been designated for housing.
The Community Preservation Committee led a planning process that included community input and a site study by the Cape Cod Commission.
After inviting proposals from developers, the town in 2016 selected Boston-based Affirmative Investments and the nonprofit Falmouth Housing Corp.
Concerns from the planning department over the site’s proximity to a nearby flood plain was addressed by the addition of tons of fill to elevate the property.
Tara Mizrahi, vice president of Affirmative Investments, said her company is no stranger to Falmouth, nor to its partner on the Little Pond Place project.
“This is our sixth project with the Falmouth Housing Corp.,” she said.
The town will enter into a land lease with Falmouth Housing Corp., which will manage the site once it is built.
Construction on the 10 units on Gifford Street, which also will be managed by Falmouth Housing Corp., is set to begin in September. Construction of an additional 10 units will begin when the first phase is built.
