Sad Math; Provincetown’s Disappearing Housing

PROVINCETOWN – “Every day people come in here in a desperate spot looking for housing,” said John Economos, sitting in his office at Province Landing, a 50-unit affordable rental housing development on Shank Painter Road.

John Economos, senior manager for Community Builders, at Province Landing, a 50-unit affordable rental housing development on Shank Painter Road.

Economos, senior manager for Community Builders, which operates Province Landing and three other affordable housing developments on Cape Cod – in Sandwich, Mashpee and Chatham – understands the desperation people feel. For six years, he lived in Provincetown, a place he loves. But because the Provincetown apartment that he rented was in a building up for sale, he had to move to Orleans and now commutes to Provincetown for work.

Stories like that of Economos and those who visit his office looking for housing have become so common in Provincetown that the town recently held its second housing summit since 2006 to address the continued loss of year-round rental housing.

“The 2006 Needs Assessment was that we needed 250 new units,” said Michelle Jarusiewicz, Community Housing Specialist for Provincetown. Jarusiewicz organized the recent summit. “We have created 70 new units,” she said.

But during that same time, according the Housing Needs Assessment Update prepared in December 2013 by John Ryan, a housing consultant and the principal of Development Cycles of East Montpelier, Vermont, there were 376 condominiums permitted in Provincetown. The report stated, “The vast majority of these units are conversions of small multi-family properties to second homes. These units constitute a not insignificant share of the town’s remaining rental stock.”

The sad town-wide math of adding 70 new year-round units while subtracting 376 year-round units was best summed up in a metaphor by Ryan, who said, “It’s like pouring water into a bucket that has a hole in the bottom.”