Lottery Now Open For Pennrose Units

ORLEANS – At the site of the former Cape Cod Five headquarters on West Road, the Pennrose affordable housing development, a project that has been years in the planning, is nearing completion. 

New buildings on the property will soon boast 62 units of housing, with construction expected to finish this spring. 

 But evidence of progress on the highly anticipated project goes beyond the construction. Prospective tenants can now apply to take part in a lottery to select applicants to be considered for the new units.

 “Anybody who is income qualified, and there are certain details about how that works, they can go through the information on the (town) website,” said Elizabeth Jenkins, the town’s assistant director of planning and community development. “If they think they’re qualified, they can apply for the lottery.”

 The Pennrose project represents a major step forward in the town’s efforts to bring sorely needed affordable housing to Orleans, especially as the cost of living continues to grow beyond the reach of many local workers and families. 

All of the units will be rented as affordable housing. Those include 10 that will be rented to individuals who make up to 80 percent of the area median income (AMI) in Barnstable County, 43 that will be rented to those who make up to 60 percent of AMI and nine that will be rented to those who make up to 30 percent of AMI.

 Only the units in the 60 to 80 percent range will be subject to the lottery, which will be held on April 22. The remaining nine units at 30 percent will be rented through the state’s rental voucher program.

 Jenkins also pointed out that selection through the lottery does not guarantee anyone a unit. Rather, those who are selected will be allowed to go through the formal application process.

 “The lottery just determines who can submit the rental application,” she said. “You win the ability to apply for a unit. Then you have to go through the normal process you would for getting an apartment, where they’ll do a credit check, a background check and all that.”

 Those who are not selected through the lottery will be put on a waiting list for future consideration, Jenkins said. As units become available, people move up the list.

 “We don’t have an exact date for when the units will come online, but folks will be able to move into those units when they’re available, hopefully this spring,” she said.

 The Pennrose development also gives preference to those applicants who live locally on Cape. Jenkins said 65 percent of units are reserved for people who live, work or have children attending school in Orleans. An additional 10 percent are reserved for applicants who live, work or have children attending school in Eastham, Chatham, Brewster, Wellfleet, Truro, Provincetown and Harwich. Those towns have each contributed funds to the project through the Community Preservation Act.

 “All of these projects are designed to support people in our local communities who are struggling with housing stability or other housing situations,” Jenkins said of the project’s local preference component. “That’s who these projects are targeting.”

 The town’s website has a link to the Pennrose website, where applications can be accessed and downloaded. All applications must be filled out and returned by mail and must be postmarked by April 8 for consideration in the lottery. The April 22 lottery will be streamed on Facebook Live, according to Pennrose.

 In other affordable housing news, 14 additional units are on track to go online later this year at the site of the former Masonic Lodge at 107 Main St. That project is being developed by the Housing Assistance Corporation.

 Prefabricated boxes have been trucked over to the site and placed on their foundations, and Jenkins said it is expected that the lottery for the 14 units will open closer to summer. She said that the lottery will be conducted similarly to the one for Pennrose.

 Headway is also being made for plans to develop the former Governor Prence Inn on Route 6A into mixed affordable and workforce housing. The select board and the affordable housing trust fund board, who co-own the property, each voted to enter into a land disposition agreement earlier this month with the nonprofits Preservation of Affordable Housing, Housing Assistance Corporation and Habitat for Humanity Cape Cod, who are working jointly on a plan to redevelop the 5.5 acre site. Jenkins said the trust fund board was scheduled to have a discussion about future “funding support” for the project at its Feb. 18 meeting.