Ptown, Wellfleet
& Eastham
With the longest commutes, the highest home prices, the highest percentage of seasonal homes and the most restricted land areas, the towns of the Outer Cape are ground zero for the affordability crisis on Cape Cod.
None of the Outer Cape towns meets the minimum 10% affordable housing standard - though Provincetown is getting close. Truro, with 1.8%, is the lowest.
Fortunately, all four of the Outer Cape towns are taking steps to address the problem.
Here is a review of what Provincetown, Wellfleet and Eastham are doing.
Quick Facts
Current Affordable Housing Units*
- Provincetown 8% | 203 units
- Eastham 3.7% | 116 units
- Wellfleet 2.0% | 40 units
- Truro 1.8% | 25 units
Planned or Under Construction Affordable Housing Units
ALL OUTER CAPE
- 154 units under construction
- up to 606 units in planning
Provincetown:
- 65 units under construction
- up to 116 units in planning
Eastham:
- 0 under construction
- up 82 units in planning
Wellfleet
-50 under construction
- up to 258 units in planning
Truro
- 39 under construction
- up to 150 units in planning
*2023 numbers. The Cape Cod Commission reports that the percentage of affordable housing for the entire Cape is only 3.9%.
Provincetown
2023 Affordable Housing Stock: 8.0% or 203 units*
Provincetown Post Development at 3 Jerome Smith Road:
65 rental units
Expected completion date: Winter 2025
3 Jerome Smith Road is a planned 65-unit new construction multifamily development in Provincetown. The development will be comprised of four 3-story buildings on a 1.8-acre site providing rental housing for households earning 30% of area median income (AMI), 60% AMI, "workforce" moderate-income households (80% AMI), and a handful of market rate units.
The development will have 18 studio apartment units, 32 one-bedroom units, 10 two-bedroom units, and 5 three-bedroom units.
In 2024, $29 million in state funding was secured. Community Builders Inc., the Boston-based nonprofit that won the contract to build the apartments in 2021.
With all of Provincetown’s contributions included — a $3-million direct allocation, $500,000 in Community Preservation Act funds, and $900,000 to buy the VFW parcel back in 2013 — the local cost for each apartment comes to $67,692.
The total project cost is estimated at $37.8 million, or $581,538 per apartment.
The Bellweather Project at 26 Shankpainter Road (former police station):
40 units home ownership units:
Expected completion date: TBD
At the April 2025 town meeting, voters approved transferring up to $4 million from the Provincetown Housing Fund to create up to 40 home ownership units.
75% of the project (30 of the 40 units) will be for year-round homeownership, sold by lottery at below-market prices, to income-qualified first-time home buyers. These units will be under deed restrictions with the Town, requiring that the unit be lived in year-round as an owner’s primary domicile. The units will be a mix of studios and one-bedrooms.
The Barracks Project
13 year-round rental units and 28 dormitory-style rooms for seasonal workers (housing up to 112 seasonal workers).
Expected Completion Date: TBD
At the April 2025 town meeting, voters approved transferring up $1.3 million to create year-round rental and seasonal dormitory housing for seasonal workers. The land owner and the Developer are working to secure additional funding.
The project presents an opportunity for Provincetown to create seasonally dedicated housing units, supported by employment sponsors. The proposal includes off-season educational programming to maximize year-round use of the space. The dormitory rooms will have the capacity to house up to 112 seasonal workers. The year-round rental units consist of six studios and seven one-bedrooms, with proposed rents ranging from $1,900-$2,500. The year-round units will be deed-restricted with the Town.
288A Bradford Street
Up to 15 housing units.
Expected Completion Date: TBD
Approved at Annual Town Meeting in 2022, the Town purchased 288A Bradford Street for both open space and affordable housing development. The agreed upon purchase price was $1,475,000 with an additional $100,000 to handle diligence costs as well as the relocation of two existing tenants and site preparation.
Housing development plans at this site are being explored. Under inclusionary zoning, up to 15 units could be built on the property.
All existing tenants have now vacated the building and demolition work is scheduled to begin in 2025.
22/22R & 24 Nelson Avenue
48 to 50 housing units, with sewer extension.
Expected Completion Date: TBD
At April 2024 Town Meeting, voters officially approved to pay down the full amount of debt associated with the purchase of the two properties with funding from Free Cash ($885,000) unappropriated money from the Tourism Fund ($350,000) and money approved by the Community Housing Council from the Housing Fund ($800,000).
Harbor Hill Apartments
28 year round rental units.
COMPLETED August 2024
The Town of Provincetown, through the Year Round Market Rate Rental Housing Trust, owns and operates 28 year-round rental units for residents earning between 80% and 200% Area Median Income. Harbor Hill Apartments consist of one studio, four 1-bedrooms, twenty-two 2-bedrooms and one 3-bedroom unit.
Provincetown Housing Authority (PHA) Units
The PHA operates 44 affordable housing units at different sites in Provincetown.
*Chapter 40B Subsidized Housing Inventory (SHI) as of June 29, 2023*
Wellfleet
2023 Affordable Housing Stock: 2.0% or 40 units*
Maurice's Campground
Up to 250 housing units
Expected Completion Date: TBD
At the April 2025 Town Meeting, voters overwhelming approved funding for consultants to move ahead with the project.
Wellfleet's Select Board had earlier endorsed a Master Plan to create up to 250 affordable housing units on the sites.
- Approximately 175 homes affordable to low-moderate-income households at/below 80% AMI
- Approximately 75 attainable homes for homeownership, including 25 homes available to households with incomes at/below 80%
- 50 middle market homes for families earning at/below 150% AMI,
- 80-90 seasonal worker beds
Maurice's Campground Master Plan, April 2025
The Residences at Lawrence Hill
46 affordable housing units
Expected Completion Date: early 2026
The Wellfleet Select Board approved final recommendations in 2021, the project was fully funded by 2024 and is expected to be completed in early 2026.
Applications for rentals will open in Fall of 2025.
Paine Hollow
Eight affordable rental units on 120 Paine Hollow Road.
Expected Completion Date: TBD.
Old Kings Highway
Four homes through Habitat for Humanity Community Housing at 2254 Old Kings Highway.
Expected Completion Date: 2026
At completion, the homes will be sold at affordable prices to those at 60-80% of AMI (area median income).
Freeman Ave
One affordable single-family house.
Expected Completion Date: TBD
Eastham
2023 Affordable Housing Stock: 3.7% or 116 units*
The Village at Nauset Green
65 rental units
COMPLETED 2020
The project includes 27 one-bedroom units, 31 two-bedrooms, and seven three-bedrooms.
North Eastham Master Plan
82 units: 40 units suggested for T-Time, 30 units at the Town Center Plaza, and 12 at the former COA
Possible Completion Date: 2032-35
Project delayed by need to extend wasterwater treatment to North Eastham. Expected waterwaster completion by 2029.
Eastham Affordable Housing Trust Properties
The Trust owns a total of 21 affordable housing units, with 8 in Eastham and 13 in Orleans.
Voices
"(I am) afraid to start new efforts (like catering) . . . We lose 5-ish staff each year. It is definitely frustrating to train someone and then lose them because they don't have permanent housing, or lose their housing. . . "
"You have to live in Wellfleet if you want to
fish here. If you lose your housing, you lose your livelihood...."
“Wellfleet needs homes for the cashiers behind the counter at local stores; the nursing assistants who provide medical care at Outer Cape Health; the government workers who plow the roads and shelve books in the library, the men and women who tend the town’s shellfish grants, the tradespeople who build and maintain homes and businesses. The list is long because the essence of community life is the interdependence of its residents.”
“It takes the same amount of energy and headaches to build 10 affordable units as it does to build 100 affordable units..."
We don’t have the time to build 10 units at a time.”
Jay Coburn, director of the Community Development Partnership (2)
The (Nauset) Village’s first residents are beginning to move in. Ralph Desmond found out on New Year’s Eve that he had secured a one-bedroom unit. He moved in early January.
“It was a good way to start the New Year,” he said. “I’m very lucky.”
Desmond said he had lived in Provincetown for the last 39 years but recently was paying $1,000 a month for one room with no closet or kitchen.
His one-bedroom unit in the Village has a living room and kitchen, three closets, and a washer and dryer. And it’s less expensive.
“I got rented out of Provincetown,” he said.
“This really changed my life. I was living without a kitchen. I was eating very badly because I was eating out every day.”
(1) Comments from Wellfleet businesses, Maurice's Campground Master Plan Stud, 2025
(2) Two Small Housing Projects Make Slow Progress, the Provincetown Independent, 11/21/23
(3) Nauset Green Applications Reveal Unexpected Need, the Provincetown Independent, 1/20/2020