At the March 21, 2005 Special Town Meeting, Sandwich residents voted overwhelming to replace the existing Cape Cod Open Space Land Acquisition Program with the Community Preservation Act. One of the purposes of this fund is to create and maintain affordable housing. During the 2007 and 2008, The Community Preservation Committee and Town Meeting supported appropriations totaling $235,000 in CPA funding to acquire existing housing units for conversion to affordable rental properties. Using these funds as a down payment, the Authority has been able to acquire and renovate two existing single family homes and turn them into affordable rental properties. One of these properties had previously been an affordable property, but was in danger of losing its status until the SHA acquired it. In 2008, The Community Preservation Committee and Town Meeting also supported the appropriation of an additional $40,000 for the preliminary engineering and design work for the expansion of George Fernandes Way, an existing 12 unit affordable Family property off of Quaker Meetinghouse. In 2009, The Community Preservation Committee and Town Meeting supported the appropriation of an additional $1,850,000 in CPC funding for the expansion of George Fernandes Way. This money is intended to serve as an initial investment and will show strong local support to other governmental and private investors and lenders. The Authority is very appreciative of the support of the Community Preservation Review Committee, as well as the members of Town Meeting who recognized the need to support affordable focusing efforts and approved this funding. The Authority is continuing to aggressively pursue acquisition opportunities as well as efforts to expand the existing George Fernandes property. For more information on these projects: | 