A housing project in West Tisbury that will add eight affordable units to the town’s rental housing stock broke ground earlier this winter and is expected to be completed by next year.
Pursued by the town, the $6.7 million development at 401 State Road began site work and is securing the last funding for the four duplexes. The project has been in development since 2021 and gone through several fits and starts, but officials say it will now bring some much needed housing to the up-Island community.
“It’s been in the works for some time,” said Philippe Jordi, the CEO of the Island Housing Trust, the nonprofit developer behind the project. “It’s moving along well.”
Two of the duplexes will be restricted to people making up to 80 per cent of the area median income, and the other two will be capped at 100 per cent.
“It’s similar to Scott’s Grove in West Tisbury,” Mr. Jordi said, referring to the nine-apartment development.
“This is kind of a classic pocket neighborhood where we are doing these small- to medium-sized neighborhoods,” he said.
The Vineyard has struggled with the lack of affordable housing for years and as of 2023, West Tisbury had 23 affordable units, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission’s statisical profile.
The town previously envisioned half of the units at 401 State Road being dedicated to seniors, but Mr. Jordi said federal requirements would have demanded that the project either be totally restricted to seniors, or open to all ages.
“You have to do none, or all,” he said. “So the town decided to go to a rental property that would be available to everybody.”
Located at the corner of State Road and Lambert’s Cove Road, the town awarded the contract for the project to Island Housing Trust in January 2025. The project had met several obstacles in the past.
Initially approved by the voters in 2021, the town picked South Mountain Co. to spearhead the project. The company pulled out of the work a year later due to frustrations with the town’s affordable housing committee.
West Tisbury had to put the project on hold in 2024 due to a $1.4 million funding gap.
Island towns are being asked to reallocate money that had already been dedicated to past iterations of the project at this spring’s town meetings, and Island Housing Trust is in the process of securing grants from the state.
The project will have four two-bedroom units, and four one-bedroom units. Mr. Jordi said that construction will hopefully wrap up by the end of 2026 and people will be able to move in during the first two quarters of 2027. A lottery for the homes is expected to take place later this year.
This article appears in March 27, 2026.
I am sorry 4 duplex’s? We need more, we need another 100 to 400 units, not 4.
I cannot afford to live here. People are living in there cars? We can do better than 4.
You want to consider commuting.
I hear rents etc are more affordable on the cape and mainland.
I commuted for over 40 years.
Saved enough to buy.
It’s 8 units not 4 and that better than none.
Jen, and when we build another 400 units we will then need more. It will never end until the island is completely overbuilt. Sadly, we all do not get to live wherever we want. That includes me.
I agree 8 is not enough. Martha’s Vineyards needs more affordable housings. This is a start.
Nice work. People have homes they use a few months of the year then sit empty. Maybe we can use these homes for affordable housing?
Many seasonal homes are rented during the off-months of the year. But then there’s a scramble for rentals during the season as the owners want to use their own home.
Jen, I agree we need more! I don’t understand why we can’t make the units 3-8 stories high? Edgartown did something similar? Confused?
We could have done a small dormitory style?
Of the $6.7M for the project how much is coming out of IHT and how much is being expended by the town of WT? 8 units but how many bedrooms? I’m sorry Mr. Jordi but it strikes me that the costs outweigh the benefit and you’re struggling to scale a model that is flawed. $837,000 / unit (which I surmise is actually higher in other costs) is challenging let alone not really “affordable” to construct. How on earth did we get in bed with the idea that spending literally millions of dollars on “affordable” housing would net out to more housing. 5 years in the making to pull this off so factor in the central office costs of IHT and the town of WT and collectively the total expenditure on this project is through the roof. IHT is a wonderful organization and doing its part but in my humble opinion flawed in design and execution. Further, why are we reliant on a non-profit developer when our townships have deep coffers of taxed STR funds? For the 20+ years of IHT I believe we would have garnered far more housing units but sadly I see little to no innovation in how IHT and the towns collaborate. Costs go up to build not because it’s impossible to build for under $500/ft but largely in my opinion by the inability of IHT and the builders they work with to be creative. When you’re raising millions of donor funds to justify a growing budget, you in turn are inclined to spend, which again in my observations drives costs further as the cycle repeats. Raise $10M so you can spend $10M so you can raise another $15M and so on. The net here is positive don’t get me wrong but the practice to achieving any sort of success is riddled with inefficiencies we the public and somewhat the donors to IHT should examine closely. The money matters.
IMHO There is no such thing as affordable on MV for most people and not just the house !
How do you get a loan for a Million plus !
Not to mention soaring property taxes and insurance bills as well as exploding maintenance costs. Who is going to pay for all of that? Yet more taxes?