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Nantucket Housing 101: Navigating the Island’s Housing Programs

Housing on Nantucket is complicated. Dozens of organizations, programs, income limits and rules shape who can rent, buy or build on the island. For many year-round residents, the hardest part is knowing where to start.

On Oct. 5, Remain hosted Nantucket Housing 101 in the Great Hall at the Nantucket Atheneum. The free panel was a practical guide to finding your way through the island’s housing system. It covered who does what, which programs you may qualify for, and where to turn first, whether you’re a year-round resident looking for a stable place to live, a homeowner thinking about ways to add or keep year-round housing, or a landlord curious about renting to locals.

Independent consultant and Nantucket native Samantha Pillion moderated the discussion. The panelists were Anne Kuszpa, executive director of Housing Nantucket; Dave Armanetti, director of real estate development at Housing Nantucket; Beth Ann Meehan, loan officer at Cape Cod 5, president of the Nantucket Housing Authority and board member of Habitat for Humanity Nantucket; Tucker Holland, executive director of the Nantucket Land Trust; and Kristie Ferrantella, housing director for the Town of Nantucket. Together they walked through common situations, like a resident looking for an affordable rental or a homeowner thinking about adding an accessory dwelling unit, and then took questions from the audience.

What’s in the Presentation

The slides from the event are now available to download. They cover:

  • Who’s who in Nantucket housing: what the Housing Authority, Affordable Housing Trust, Town of Nantucket, Housing Nantucket, Habitat for Humanity, Nantucket Land Trust and others each do
  • The Three C’s: conserving existing year-round homes, converting underused homes to year-round use, and creating new housing
  • Tools and programs: the resources that already exist, plus new ones coming online
  • Area Median Income (AMI): what it means and the 2026 income limits for Nantucket by household size
  • Common housing scenarios: real-life situations on Nantucket and where to turn in each one
  • Meet the speakers: contact information for each panelist, so you can follow up directly

Keep the Conversation Going

This presentation is meant to be shared. Download it, read it at your own pace, and talk it over with friends, family, neighbors and coworkers. The more of us who understand how housing works on Nantucket, the better we can find our way through it together.

Download: Nantucket Housing 101 Presentation (PDF)

For more information, contact info@remain.org.