Most meetings in Truro are remote. Go to truro-ma.gov and click on the meeting you want to watch. The agenda includes instructions on how to join.
Thursday, Feb. 24
- Economic Development Construction and Tradesman Focus Group, 4:40 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 28
- Local Comprehensive Plan Committee, 10 a.m.
- Zoning Board of Appeals, 5:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 1
- Select Board and Board of Health, 3:30 p.m.
- Charter Review Committee, 4:15 p.m.
- Board of Health, 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, March 2
- Planning Board, 5 p.m.
- Walsh Property Community Planning Committee, 6:30 p.m.
Conversation Starters
Rental Assistance
The select board voted unanimously on Feb. 8 to expand the emergency rental assistance program to allow town employees who aren’t Truro residents to be eligible for the aid.
The expansion is intended to promote both hiring and retention of employees, though Betty Gallo, the vice chair of the Truro Housing Authority, said that she and the board “don’t expect there’s going to be many people” taking part in the program.
Still, she hopes the decision will help “maybe one or two” employees to continue working for the town instead of leaving their jobs because of unaffordable rents. For those scouting out positions in Truro, this rental assistance may “convince them to come take a job,” Gallo added.
As for the rental assistance program at large, “we are off to a good start,” said Gallo. Three Truro households have signed on, she told the board. Two of these are single people, and one is a senior. The third household is made up of a parent and a teenage child.
Of the $30,000 in the program from the Housing Trust Fund, as of Feb. 8 only $1,000 had been granted.
The program has struggled in the past to recruit participants. One reason: the dearth of available year-round rentals. Some properties in Truro that were historically rented out year-round have turned into second homes or summer rentals, leaving few options for those who might qualify. —Jasmine Lu
