The manager of the Vineyard’s only homeless shelter has been going to the Island town governments in recent weeks in the hope that they will join Harbor Homes to start a committee or task force aimed at helping the growing homeless population.

Lisa Belcastro, who manages the Harbor Homes winter shelter, gave the Tisbury select board an update on the Island’s homeless predicament on Tuesday.

The shelter itself effectively became homeless this month after losing its leased space at Martha’s Vineyard Community Services, which has demolished the building to make way for campus renovations.  

Two churches in Edgartown, the Federated on South Summer street and St. Andrew’s Episcopal on North Summer street, are hosting Harbor Homes guests now. Each church serves as the shelter for several nights in a row.

But the shelter program is closing for the season April 19, Ms. Belcastro said, leaving no alternative for many unhoused Islanders who, in the past, have camped illegally in the state forest.

“On the Island, we don’t have a safe camping location, which is something we’re advocating for,” she said.

The state Department of Conservation and Recreation cleared an encampment in the forest last summer, resulting in a public outcry from Islanders.

Ms. Belcastro said she is making the rounds of select board meetings to see if the towns will come together to help create a designated camping area where homeless Islanders can stay without risk.

“We’d really like to see the county and the towns [get] together to create that safe space,” she said.

“The homeless issue on Martha’s Vineyard is a community issue … and we are asking and hoping that we can all come together and work on this, because the problem isn’t going away,” Ms. Belcastro said.

“The numbers continue to go up. And they escalate even more in the summer,” she said.

Harbor Homes also is continuing its property search for a permanent winter shelter location, Ms. Belcastro said.