“We live where you vacation” is a moniker of pride for the millions of people who call beach towns and other tourist spots home.
With the summer vacation season officially begun, postcard destinations like the Hamptons, Jersey Shore, Cape Cod, and other coastal communities may summon images of summer homes, idyllic beaches, and yacht-filled harbors. But these locales often become too expensive for essential members of these communities. For example, the median price for a home in Barnstable County on Cape Cod, MA is $730,000.
For the people who teach in schools, wait tables at restaurants, ensure quality healthcare, or keep neighborhoods safe, these beach town have become nearly impossible places to call home. Seniors are also getting priced out of where they may have lived for decades, possibly even where they were born, grew up, and had careers or ran businesses.
That’s why TD Bank is committed to helping solve one of most urgent issues in these communities: housing affordability. Through a combination of debt financing and equity investments, TD is partnering with mission-driven developers to bring high-quality affordable housing back into the heart of these communities.
“Working people keep these communities running,” said Andrew Warren, Senior Vice President and leader of the Community Development Lending Vertical for Commercial Real Estate at TD Bank. “They used to be able to live near their jobs, but today, many of them are now driving one to two hours every day just to find an affordable place to live.”
Andrew helps lead many of TD Bank’s Commercial affordable housing initiatives. To this he adds: “Housing in these places is absolutely unavailable, let alone unaffordable.”
Andrew lists remote workers moving to these cities during the pandemic, people buying properties as vacation homes, and owners turning long-term rentals into short-term rentals as three of the main reasons housing has become so hard to come by – these are true, but also resistance to development in these areas and scarcity pricing out local renters and homebuyers.
Building more than housing — building communities and changing lives
Andrew offers several examples of coastal communities where TD is making a difference, typically leveraging public and private partnerships to fund affordable housing.
- In New York’s Hamptons, TD has backed several developments. Gansett Meadows in Amagansett added 37 rentals and marked the first new affordable rental project in East Hampton in years. In Southampton, Speonk Commons and Sandy Hollow brought to market a combined 65 units, all near transit to ease commutes both for residents and travelers to these destinations.
- On Cape Cod, TD financed the transformation of the former Henry T. Wing School into the Wing School Residences. The average price of a home in Phase 1 created 38 senior units, with another 41 planned in Phase 2. In Falmouth, TD supported Scranton & Main Senior Housing, which added 48 more units for older residents who often struggle to downsize.
- Down the Jersey Shore, the bank partnered with a longtime regional developer to finance Galloway I, II, and III — a three-phase initiative building 278 affordable units near Atlantic City.
- Along the Maryland/Delaware Shore, TD funded the renovation and expansion of The Willows at Berlin. The project added 65 deeply affordable apartments in a town where every previous unit had a two-year waitlist.
“These projects are game changers,” Andrew said. “When you add even a handful of rentals to a market with no housing availability, you’re doing more than building homes. You’re supporting these communities and changing lives.”
Helping communities thrive, not just survive
TD’s approach to funding affordable housing in coastal communities goes beyond construction loans. For many projects, the bank matches its loan commitments with equity investments, embedding the bank as a financial and community partner for the long haul.
“Our funding efforts are an essential part of our commitment to community development,” said Keith Nisbet, Head of the Community Capital Group, TD Bank. “And because we’re in these deals for decades, we want to make sure the housing stays affordable, well-maintained, and part of the community.”
TD’s equity stake means the bank has a shared commitment with developers, nonprofits, and local governments to build inclusive, sustainable housing. With longstanding TD Bank stores in each of these markets, TD has deep roots and an enduring presence.
As Keith sees it, the bank’s involvement in these communities is a long-term relationship. “We’ve been in these towns for decades, going back to our predecessor’s branches that are now TD stores,” he said. “And we’ll be there for decades to come.”
That relationship is impossible without the support of TD’s partners in these deals, the builders and developers who are creating these opportunities directly within those communities. Joe Del Duca oversees The Walters Group’s affordable housing pipeline and has been involved in real estate for four decades. He knows that finding property in vacation areas and shore towns is not an easy concept.
"Land prices are typically exorbitant, and land is generally very scarce (in resort areas). Jobs are often seasonal. Even when we're able to find locations in towns like Seaside Heights, NJ, they tend to be an outlier," said Joe. "The key is finding land that can be developed and redeveloped. Big tourist destinations like New Jersey are largely developed, but they aren't always adequately redeveloped."
He believes there's an opportunity to redevelop vacant or badly underperforming locations into affordable and workforce housing, including struggling retail centers and shopping malls. The main priority is finding development projects that follow where the funding points them, including areas with good schools, available local jobs, and public transportation.
What affordability looks like
Andrew noted that affordable housing developments like those mentioned are offering clean, modern homes to people with steady jobs or seniors who want to retire in their hometown.
“Affordable housing isn’t what many people think it is,” Andrew said. “You drive by the developments TD has backed, and you’d never know that they are income restricted. That’s the point. We’re creating housing that blends into the fabric of the community.”
Each project is a team effort
Behind each project that TD supports is a broad collaboration across TD’s different functions — from underwriting to asset management to TD Charitable Foundation support. Teams span real estate, risk, community development, and even environmental and engineering groups. Andrew estimates that more than 20 TD colleagues typically touch each project.
“Everyone from our investing, lending and operations teams to the staff of our local TD Bank store plays a part,” he said. “They care because they see firsthand how these homes change lives. It’s one of the most rewarding things we do as a bank. And we’re poised to do many, many more to ease affordable housing shortages everywhere we operate.”
For more information
We hope you found this helpful. This article is based on information available in May 2025 and is subject to change. It is provided as a convenience and for general information purposes only. Our content is not intended to provide legal, tax, investment, or financial advice or to indicate that a particular TD Bank or third-party product or service is available or right for you.
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