Cape Cod’s summer tourist appeal, and its robust market for vacation homes, can mask the reality that housing there is often cripplingly expensive for year-round residents — especially those whose incomes fluctuate with the Cape’s seasonal economy. To address that challenge, Hyannis-based Housing Assistance Corporation provides an array of housing services on the Cape and Islands, from operating shelters to building affordable units to offering first-time homebuyer classes. It recently named its second-ever chief executive, Alisa Galazzi, 48, whose predecessor, Rick Presbrey, founded the nonprofit in 1974. She spoke with Globe reporter Sacha Pfeiffer.

1In addition to running four homeless shelters, HAC operates the Cape’s largest Section 8 rental housing program, provides foreclosure prevention counseling, weatherizes homes, and runs a nonprofit real estate office, among other services.

“We have the whole gamut, from outreach workers who go into the forest, literally, and bring people out who are living in tents and try to get them into housing or get them services, all the way through building affordable housing on Nantucket. They’re beautiful $500,000 units — that’s affordable on Nantucket! — for ­police officers, teachers, and other productive, working human beings struggling to make ends meet. Real estate prices are also astronomical in Boston, but on the Cape we don’t have jobs to support those high-ticket prices. Most of us who live here work in the service industry, so [they] are making minimum wage and would need three jobs, basically, making $40 an hour, to be able to afford market-rate apartments or market-rate mortgages.’’

2During last year’s annual count of the Cape’s homeless population, nearly 400 people were found living in shelters or on the streets, up 10 percent from the previous year. But Galazzi — who lives in Orleans with her husband, Chris (he’s executive director of the Cape Cod Maritime Museum in Hyannis), and three adolescent daughters — describes the Cape’s homelessness problem as somewhat hidden.

“When you’re here as a tourist, it’s hard to see. The Cape is a beautiful place with a lot of beautiful things to do, and it looks like everybody is doing OK and kind of affluent. But that’s really not the case for the year-round people who live here who are in the service industry. One misstep or lost job or illness can send people into a tailspin very quickly because they’re paying 50 to 75 percent of their income — and in some ­cases more — on their rent. So you really have no wiggle room on savings.’’

3Housing Assistance Corp. develops affordable housing on the Cape for seniors, families, and individuals, but Galazzi prefers to call it “workforce housing.’’

“People have a misconception of affordable housing. They think of poor people who will bring property values down, but the people who need those units are your sister, your cousin, the person helping you at a restaurant, the [certified nursing assistant] who works at a nursing home helping your mom. Sometimes they need a hand, and sometimes they just live in a very expensive place and need an affordable house. These are regular, normal people, not derelicts of society who are going to hurt somebody. So we’re talking about workforce housing: The businesses here need employees, and we need reasonably priced properties, and we’re helping develop that supply.’’

4Galazzi says her ultimate goal in her new job is to prevent people from experiencing crises that lead to housing emergencies.

“How do we break the cycle of poverty? We have to think as an organization about how we get services to people so they don’t end up in a shelter or land in a bad situation. I recently visited one of our shelters, and 10 women were living there with their children. Seven of those women had not gotten past the seventh grade. We have to figure out a way as a society to help them, and we shouldn’t wait till they’re in a shelter. We should get to them in second or third grade and help them succeed.’’

5Galazzi has also worked at Gosnold on Cape Cod, a Falmouth addiction treatment center; Alzheimer’s Services of Cape Cod & the Islands; the Cape Cod Foundation; and the American Heart Association. But before entering the nonprofit sector she dabbled in the entertainment industry in Los Angeles.

“I was working at CBS Television in publicity and affiliate relations and production, and I didn’t own a television and still don’t watch TV, so it was really hard for me to relate to my work. I was very fortunate to get that job, but it didn’t make my heart sing. So I started volunteering at a place in downtown LA called Inner-City Arts, and my whole world opened up to this other way of thinking about work. It doesn’t just have to be a job you go to and are good at; it can be something you’re passionate about and personally engaged in.’’

Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @SachaPfeiffer.