Falmouth Select Board Approves $2.6 Million for 50 Senior Housing Units in 3-2 Vote

Select Board · Meeting of July 27, 2026

Falmouth Select Board votes 3-2 to commit $2.6 million from its affordable housing fund to a 50-unit senior rental project at 545 Main Street. Chair Heather M. H.

Goldstone and members Douglas C. Brown and Elizabeth Klein voted in favor; Vice Chair Colin W. Reed and member Robert P.

Mascali opposed, with Reed saying the board was "being forced into a decision, not of our making, without a complete exploration of all of the implications." The award — representing 84 percent of the property purchase price, a ratio Goldstone said she had never seen in any prior fund application — would leave roughly $1.2 million in the town's affordable housing fund, which carries a current unencumbered balance of $3.8 million. Developers Affirmative Investments and Falmouth Housing Corporation plan to demolish the existing structure and build 50 one-bedroom units for residents 62 and older, deed-restricted at 60 percent of area median income in perpetuity, with eight units targeted at 30 percent AMI through project-based vouchers. The developers declined to pursue a non-age-restricted design despite a state signal of support, citing the absence of any national precedent for a 100 percent one-bedroom non-age-restricted affordable development and the risk of underwriting such a project on a compressed timeline.

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• Who Was There
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• The complete report — 3,839 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of July 27, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.