The Harwich Ecumenical Council for the Homeless got some good news this week. The Massachusetts Housing Partnership earmarked $1.67 million in financing for Sisson Road, the 13-unit affordable rental housing effort that the council is developing.

MHP said it would provide $620,000 in first-mortgage financing, $750,000 in second-mortgage financing at 0 percent interest, and another $300,000 from Home Funders, a new program aimed at helping developers provide more of their units for lower-income families.

The Home Funders loan - a 2 percent interest-only loan - will enable the council to make four of its units available for people making 30 percent of median income, which on Cape Cod is $18,500 per year for a family of four.

Bob Murray, founder and president of the ecumenical council, said the Home Funders loan "will help us create apartments that really help the single parent who's working a minimum-wage retail job, or the waitress who works hard in the summer and then scrimps by in the winter."

This is the second housing effort on Cape Cod that has used MHP's Home Funders program. In Hyannis, MHP has committed $495,000 in first-mortgage financing, $750,000 in second-mortgage financing and $225,000 from Home Funders for Southside Village, a 14-unit affordable rental housing effort.

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