A vital source of child care and housing rehabilitation funds on the Island may face dramatic cuts as a result of proposed changes to the state’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, which has brought about $22 million to the six Island towns over the last 18 years and helped sustain the year-round community.

The state Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), under the new leadership of Chrystal Kornegay, proposed the changes in August, leading to a wave of opposition among Island officials and local grant administrators who believe the changes will put the Cape and Islands at a disadvantage to the state’s metropolitan areas.

According to a recent DHCD memo, the proposed changes aim “to simplify the application process and increase access to the program among eligible communities.”

Perhaps of most importance to the Vineyard, communities would be limited to one application per year, with a two-year implementation period, and funded communities could not apply in consecutive years. Communities could apply for only one program at a time, which on the Vineyard would imply a choice between housing rehabilitation and child care subsidies. Some funds would be eliminated entirely.

“We’ve never seen such sweeping change,” said Alice Boyd of Bailey Boyd Associates in Scituate, which has long administered the housing rehabilitation grants for the Island. She said the proposals came as a surprise, in light of what she saw as a strong relationship between the Island and the DHCD over the years. “I don’t think they realize or they recognize the dire impacts this has here on the Vineyard,” she said. “We have a seasonal economy and we have many people that really scramble to keep their heads above water financially.”

Island towns have been funded almost every year, with about 85 per cent of the subsidies going to housing rehabilitation and the rest going to childcare. Oak Bluffs typically applies jointly with Tisbury, and Edgartown with West Tisbury, Chilmark and Aquinnah. But the new proposal would put an end to regional applications, which have provided an advantage based on a complex scoring method, and helped save money by consolidating resources.

According to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, which provides administrative support to the towns, the program has led to the renovation of more than 320 homes on the Vineyard since around 1998. And the child care grants, which began in 2011, have helped provide day care for up to 77 children on the Island. A letter from Martha’s Vineyard Commission chairman Jim Vercruysse to the DHCD this week points out that the program has also created and sustained local jobs. The Island as a whole receives more than $1 million per year through the program.

“It’s highly unusual that we have received this sort of funding year after year,” said Christine Flynn, the MVC’s economic development and affordable housing planner. “We also have been very lucky that we’ve had a good working relationship with the [DHCD] and they have recognized our needs.” But as with Ms. Boyd, she struggled to understand the rationale behind the proposals, especially in light of Gov. Charlie Baker’s support for regional initiatives.

Ms. Boyd believed the proposed changes are likely aimed at distributing the funds more evenly across the state. (Last year’s allocations totaled about $25.5 million.) But she again highlighted the local need.

“Sometimes people don’t have the same understanding of what it is really like to live on the Island,” she said. “They have this glorified impression they get through the media that this is a vacation place for the rich and famous, and in reality people are really struggling to make it year-round.”

Melissa Vincent, program manager for TRI-The Resource Inc., which administers the child care subsidies for the Island, also struggled to understand the changes. “We get no other funds for housing rehabilitation, so the funds we do use, we use very judiciously, and I don’t know what the state is thinking,” she said.

Martha’s Vineyard has among the highest costs of living in the state, with a large number of seniors on fixed income and a continuing need for year-round affordable housing. The MVC letter points out that with cutbacks in federal and state housing programs, the Island is “working with diminishing resources, just as the need for affordable housing and health and human services are growing.”

Based on the scoring process, up-Island towns are already prevented from applying for CDBG funds in consecutive years, and Ms. Boyd noted a long wait list for housing rehabilitation grants in West Tisbury. If every town faced the same limitation, she said, the results would likely mean layoffs at her company and a reduced ability to implement the grants in the first place. “We are going to lose all our staff,” she said.

Ms. Vincent agreed the changes would cause administrative layoffs. “There is not enough funding to keep an office going without having a program to run,” she said, noting that Island contractors would likely look elsewhere for work. “It would be like starting brand new every three years.”

Local administrators and the MVC have reached out to Island towns in recent days to encourage them to weigh in on the proposal. The three information sessions this month were scheduled to take place in Boston, Worcester and West Springfield. The final session is Wednesday, Sept. 14 at the West Springfield municipal offices.

“There has not been the opportunity to have a dialogue regarding these proposed policy changes,” said Ms. Flynn, who called the process unusual for the DHCD. A public comment period closes Sept. 23.

Ms. Boyd said proposals in 2011 that would have prevented Island towns from applying every year underwent lengthy review and were ultimately revised. “This is such a shock because they want to implement this very quickly,” she said of the new proposals. “They are giving it public comment time, but there is very short notice for these hearings.” She planned to attend the hearing in Boston on Friday, although she acknowledged the difficulty in getting there from the Island on short notice.

The Edgartown selectmen this week approved a letter to the DHCD stressing the town’s dependence on the seasonal economy, and the Oak Bluffs selectmen are working on a letter of their own. Ms. Vincent encouraged former grant recipients to weigh in as well, by calling the state house and sending letters. “That really does make a difference,” she said.

Letters may be sent to Mark Southard, Department of Housing and Community Development, 100 Cambridge St., Suite 300, Boston, MA 02115. Calls may be directed to DHCD undersecretary Chrystal Kornegay at 617-573-1100.