EASTHAM — Some 200 local residents filled the Orleans-Eastham Elks Lodge on Sept. 5, waiting anxiously for their numbers to be called by representatives of Pennrose, the developer of the Village at Nauset Green, Eastham’s new affordable rental housing complex.
The lottery determined the order in which the 263 applications that had qualified for the drawing would be considered for the 65 available units in the development — the first of which may be available to rent as early as next month.
Sixty-five percent of the units — 42 apartments — are reserved for those who live, work, or have children attending school in Eastham. Seven additional units are earmarked for Barnstable County residents, including Eastham residents. The remaining 16 apartments are open to all qualified applicants regardless of where they currently live.
The tension in the room was apparent. Before the drawing of the first number, Pennrose developer Rio Sacchetti offered to take questions from the audience. Several people complained that the application process and the lottery rules were confusing. One man questioned the fairness of the drawing, at which point Sacchetti suggested that the sooner they could begin calling numbers the quicker people’s fears would be put to rest.
Indeed, once the lottery was under way it proceeded largely without comment or incident — save for the moment when the box containing all the numbers was being shaken (to ensure a random drawing) and its bottom fell open, spilling all the numbered slips onto the floor. The audience gasped, but seemed satisfied with the Pennrose staff’s assurance that every last slip had been retrieved and put back into the box.
Although the families whose numbers were chosen early in the drawing left the Elks Lodge feeling one step closer to an affordable home, even those who were among the first picked are not guaranteed a place at Nauset Green. First they must undergo an extensive background check, provide references, and sit for a face-to-face interview with the property managers. Each application must also match the type of apartment — one-, two-, or three-bedroom — that is available at the time of review. Pennrose hopes to open sections of the Village in phases, as they are completed, with all units ready for tenants to move in by the spring of 2020.
