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MassDevelopment In The News
Common Sense
November 21, 2005: Banker & Tradesman, Editorial
On the island of Nantucket, million-dollar median home prices and limited space have come together to make the bucolic community one of the most exclusive addresses in the state. There the lifestyles of the rich and famous intersect with traditional New England values, a combination that has conspired to attract more buyers who are willing to pay more money to call the area home.
In recent years, Nantucket's locals and lifelong residents have been plagued with the lack of affordability as a result of their island's own popularity. Skilled workers, service providers, municipal employees and other essential elements of the island's economic infrastructure are being priced out of the region by those moving in and driving costs up.
A recent step by MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development authority, makes certain that one segment of the population will have housing regardless of new immigrants: those who are growing older. A $27.5 million financing package was recently announced for Sherburne Commons, a 64-unit residential community for seniors being constructed on a 20-acre site. The 90,000-square-foot project will consist of 38 independent living units, 22 assisted-living units and eight staff housing units, with 20 percent of the senior facilities designated affordable to households earning up to 50 percent of the area median income.
Not only will the project produce housing for the community's senior population, but the construction will create jobs for those in the building profession and the finished facility will result in 35 permanent positions for island residents.
With developable land so scarce and home prices showing no signs of slumping, it is incredibly important to guarantee that Nantucket locals are able to live in a place that they can both afford and call their own. Developments like Sherburne Commons are a necessary step to ensure that the "out with the old and in with the new" cliché does not occur on a community level.
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