MASHPEE, Mass. (Oct. 4, 2024) – State and local officials gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony this morning at LeClair Village, a new three-building community in Mashpee featuring 39 affordable rental units. LeClair Village was developed through a partnership between the nonprofit organizations Housing Assistance and Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH).
LeClair Village will feature 14 one-bedroom apartments, 21 two-bedroom units, and 4 three-bedroom apartments. The property is named after Mary LeClair, a longtime champion of housing issues on Cape Cod and a former board member at Housing Assistance, who continues to advocate for housing and other causes at the age of 90.
U.S. Rep. Bill Keating praised the collaborative effort that led to the completion of LeClair Village. “Mary is at the center of this, and to call it a village shows the cohesiveness that brings us together,” he said. “Mary’s a person who brings people together and she’s a person who brings people together to get things done. The second part of that's not as easy as the first.”
The apartments, which are on town-owned land, will serve low- and moderate-income households.
“POAH appreciates our partners’ support for this critical affordable housing on Cape Cod,” said POAH President and CEO Aaron Gornstein. “Public/private partnerships such as this help us create more homes for many who could otherwise not afford to live here - especially low-income families and individuals.”
LeClair Village is designed to be certified passive house under the strict Passive House Institute of the US (PHIUS) standard. The enclosure – including slab, walls, windows and roof – is designed and built to be air-tight and super thermal performing. With the air-tight enclosure and mechanized ventilation, the building and apartments will provide excellent air quality and comfort to residents. It will also include a rooftop solar array and a battery for emergency backup.
“The future is bright for the families and individuals who will move into LeClair Village, knowing that they now have a safe and stable place to call home,” said Housing Assistance CEO Alisa Magnotta. “There is still much work to be done across the region, but today in Mashpee we take a moment to celebrate this victory and the inspiring example of Mary LeClair. This development represents the reality of our strategic vision to increase the Cape's housing stock by consistently maintaining 200 units in the development pipeline, a goal our current capital campaign has been established to support.”
Other speakers included The Rev. Tom Wyndham; Moddie Turay, president and CEO of the Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation; Gregory Buscone, executive vice president and chief commercial banking officer, Eastern Bank; Carol Sherman, Mashpee selectboard chair; and Tricia Stone, a LeClair Village resident.
Also attending the event were State Rep. David Vieira; John Cotton and Michaela Wyman-Colombo of the Mashpee select board; and Rodney Collins, Mashpee town manager.
POAH, a frequent project collaborator with the Housing Assistance, has served as lead developer of LeClair Village. The project’s design and construction team was DREAM Collaborative Architects, Horsley Witten Engineering and Delphi Construction.
Project partners included the Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, Massachusetts Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Barnstable County HOME Consortium, Massachusetts Housing Investment Corporation (MHIC), Eastern Bank and Mashpee Affordable Housing Trust.
LeClair Village is the latest collaboration [WO1] between POAH and Housing Assistance on Cape Cod. In the fall of 2018, the two nonprofits finished High Meadow Townhomes, the third and final phase of a project that brought a total of 117 mixed-income apartments to Bourne. They also recently celebrated the opening of the 30-unit Brewster Woods development in Brewster. In total, Housing Assistance and POAH have partnered on nine housing projects over the last 15 years, building a total of 214 units to date with 164 units in the pipeline, including a 42-unit project under construction at Cape View Way in Sagamore Beach.
About POAH
Boston-based Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH) is a nonprofit organization that preserves, creates, and restores affordable rental homes for low- and moderate-income individuals, seniors and families. POAH has rescued and restored some of America’s most ‘at risk’ rental housing totaling more than 13,000 apartments in 12 states and the District of Columbia, including close to 3,000 in Massachusetts.
About Housing Assistance
Housing Assistance has provided a spectrum of services to help our homeless and vulnerable neighbors secure a safe, stable place to call home since 1974. These programs and services include homeless outreach, family shelters, rental vouchers, affordable housing development, energy efficiency programs, and first-time homebuyer support. Housing Assistance also works to address the root causes of housing instability – lack of inventory and lack of affordability – that affect almost all income levels in our region. To learn more, visit www.haconcapecod.org.