A single-family property on Dooley Court is about to become three permanently restricted homes for Nantucket's year-round community, the result of a partnership between Housing Nantucket and the Town of Nantucket Affordable Housing Trust. The plan calls for renovating the existing house and building two new two-bedroom homes on the lot, with all three eventually going to income-qualified buyers through a lottery.
According to ack.net, the Affordable Housing Trust has committed $2.23 million in grant funding toward the property's acquisition and construction costs. Housing Nantucket purchased the property, and as Nantucket Current reports, the nonprofit will build the two new homes on the lot while the existing structure gets renovated. The deal came together in an unusual way: the property's owners reached out to Housing Nantucket before ever listing the home for sale, hoping to address the island's year-round housing needs rather than simply sell to the highest bidder.
Per Nantucket Current, the sellers said they worked with Housing Nantucket, the Town of Nantucket Housing Department and town boards to turn their property into three year-round housing units for the community, adding that the process went smoothly because of everyone's cooperation. The same outlet reports that Anne Kuszpa, Housing Nantucket's executive director, called the project novel because of how it came together, noting that the property owners chose to explore a community benefit instead of simply selling to the top bid.
Three Homes, Two Income Tiers
The renovated house will be offered to a household earning up to 250 percent of Nantucket's area median income. Ack.net describes it as roughly 2,220 square feet with four bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms, though a listing from fishernantucket.com describes the existing home as having three bedrooms — a discrepancy that remains unresolved between the two sources.
The two newly built covenant homes will each run about 1,230 square feet with two bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms, available to households earning up to 150 percent of area median income. Those units, per the same ack.net report, will be constructed in partnership with Nantucket-based Dreamline Modular Homes. The fisher Nantucket listing notes the lot sits at the end of Dooley Court, convenient to mid-island shopping, near Surfside and abutting 38 acres of State Forest land, while Nantucket Current separately describes the property as located off Old South Road near Nantucket State Forest.
Deed Restrictions and a Planning Board Green Light
All three homes will carry permanent deed restrictions limiting resale prices and requiring year-round owner occupancy, with short-term rentals barred entirely, according to ack.net. The project cleared a Planning Board special-permit approval in June, and renovation and foundation work are expected to begin later this year, the article reports.
Brooke Mohr, Select Board vice chair and a member of the Affordable Housing Trust, said the trust's investment goes further through partnerships like this one, according to Nantucket Current. She said the property was turned into three permanently restricted homes for year-round families through cooperation between Housing Nantucket and a willing seller. The property itself was acquired through a direct transaction rather than placed on the open market, ack.net reports. Residents interested in the lottery can sign up for updates, per Nantucket Current, and the ack.net report notes that an interest form is also available for those who want lottery information sent directly to them.
Part of a Broader Push for Year-Round Housing
The Dooley Court project lands amid a wider islandwide effort to preserve housing for full-time residents. Housing Nantucket commissioned its first comprehensive housing-needs study in a decade in 2025, according to Housing Nantucket, with the resulting presentation covering rising construction costs, support for low-income homeowners and strategies drawn from other resort communities. The nonprofit is separately preparing three new income-restricted units at 75 Old South Road, a site it has worked on for 16 years, with construction expected to begin this fall, according to a separate Nantucket Current report.
The town has also leaned on deed restrictions as a tool outside new construction. The Town of Nantucket reopened its Request for Proposals for a Year-Round Deed Restriction Pilot Program in late December, Housing Nantucket's website notes, a program that permanently restricts participating properties to year-round households and bars short-term rentals. As WBUR has reported, the town authorized $2 million for that pilot, under which it pays homeowners a percentage of their home's value in exchange for the permanent restriction.
