Lease to Locals Hits Housing Milestone

Innovative program delivered immediate housing relief to Provincetown - and will continue into a second year

What is Lease to Locals?

20 March 2025 - PROVINCETOWN, MA - Provincetown’s Lease to Locals program is just wrapping up its pilot year as a resounding success - so successful that the town announced it is moving forward into a second year with a second cohort of property owners and renters.

During its pilot year the program brought 33 year-round leasing housing 55 people and impacting 45 local businesses - all funded from the short term rental funds.

How does Lease to Locals work?

The concept is relatively straightforward – quickly create year-round housing by connecting property owners with year round tenants and underwriting the gap between seasonal and year round rents.

Part of the challenge with year-round rentals on Cape Cod lies in value of its seasonal rental market; owners can charge substantially more for weekly rentals in season than for year-round monthly rents. Lease to Locals uses a combination of paying owners a subsidy plus allowing the property to qualify for residential tax credits it encourage owners to rent to year-round locals rather than weekly vacationers.

How quickly can Lease to Locals generate housing options?

While Provincetown has been investing in town-owned affordable housing, building takes time.

"What is interesting about Lease to Locals is it doesn't involve putting a shovel in the ground," said Alex Morse, Provincetown Town Manager.

He noted that within the first year, 45 businesses were able to retain employees and 55 people found a place to call home. While programs like Lease to Locals can't solve all the housing challenges, they do bring a short term solution and address immediate needs.

Have other places used the concept?

The Lease to Locals concept has proved itself in other resort communities already. In fact, Provincetown partnered with a company called Placemate to establish and run the program. Placemate had existing programs running in places like Truckee, CA, and also has a privately-funded version running on Nantucket. The partnership let Provincetown create the framework that worked for Provincetown while letting Placemate manage the nuts and bolts of property verification and tenant vetting.

How does the town pay for it?

Morse said that all the funding for the program came from the seasonal tax rental fees - no bonding or borrowing required. "About $1.5 million a year goes right into the housing from from taxes from hotels and short term entals and all the mone we are using for the program is paid for out for that revue."