Amid Housing Crisis, Cape Cod Rental Program Gets County Grant To Expand

CAPE COD, MA — Barnstable County has issued a grant to a new housing program that officials with the program and on Cape Cod hope can ease some of the pains of the current housing crisis.

A county grant has allowed Housing Assistance to expand its Rent 365 program, which incentivizes homeowners — particularly people owning second homes — to convert their rental properties from seasonal to year-round rentals.

The Cape and Islands nonprofit launched Rent 365 in 2018 as a pilot program specifically designed to help solve the housing shortage by increasing the number of year-round rental opportunities for the region’s workforce.

“Our Rent 365 program is an important tool to help provide housing for the people who work in our schools, restaurants, hospitals and public safety organizations,” said Housing Assistance CEO Alisa Magnotta. “By addressing the seasonal nature of rentals and encouraging homeowners to embrace long-term, year-round rentals instead of weekly or monthly vacation rentals, Rent 365 aims to help foster a thriving stable housing market in the region.”

The initial Rent 365 incentive program created 26 year-round rentals in one year.

See Also: Most Seniors Want To Stay In Their Homes — MA Makes It Hard: New Report

The program continued in 2024 with a $30,000 grant from Cape Associates. The Barnstable County Commissioners recently awarded $70,000 from the Cape Cod and Islands License Plate Grant to support the expansion of Rent 365.

That $70,000 grant is timely, as, earlier this year, the commissioners took action on what's been a growing problem for the Cape.

After years of the housing crisis bubbling up, a housing crisis was officially declared in April, with county officials voting to advance a resolution that calls on Cape Cod’s government to take a leadership role in developing regional solutions.

The measure supported Administrator Michael Dutton’s efforts to continue a shared regional housing office providing services to towns, and calls on him to create a working group of housing, environmental and municipal leaders to recommend more actions the County can take.

“This place we call home — the one so many of us were lucky to be born into, or found and fell in love with — is slipping through our fingers,” said Deputy Speaker Dan Gessen of Falmouth, who introduced the resolution. “A family today must earn more than double the average income just to afford the price of an average home. That’s not just unsustainable. That is a crisis.”

• Related: Cape Cod Has A Housing Crisis, County Officials Say

The Rent 365 program is a piece of solving the problem.

Rent 365 now features increased cash incentives of $4,000 for a one-bedroom unit, $5,000 for a two-bedroom unit and $6,000 for units with three or more bedrooms, as well as $10,000 for an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU).

Homeowners seeking to participate in the Rent 365 program are required to meet specific eligibility criteria.

Half of all registered short-term rentals in Massachusetts are located in Barnstable County, even though the Cape contains only 6 percent of the state’s total housing units, according to “A Home for Everyone,” a statewide housing plan released earlier this year.

“When thousands of homes on Cape Cod are ‘lost’ to the seasonal rental market, that makes it even harder for our workers to find stable and affordable housing,” said Magnotta. “When owners rent their property year-round instead of seasonally, they make an important contribution to our community.”

Rentals are a crucial part of the local market, as buying a home on Cape Cod is unreachable for many people.

According to the most recent report from The Warren Group, the average home on Cape Cod costs over $700,000.

In April, 228 homes sold compared to 247 in 2024. For the year, Barnstable County has seen 753 home sales compared to 788 over the same period in 2024.

One positive trend for homebuyers came in April, when the average sale price for the month fell $40,000 compared to last year. Still, it's well over the state average, with the average sale price both for April and the year now sitting at $705,000.

• Related: The Average Cape Cod Home Now Costs Over $700K, Study Finds