U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren visited Martha’s Vineyard Friday to discuss the Island’s housing crisis with local officials.

At round table discussions at Navigator Homes and the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce, Senator Warren met with housing experts, small business owners, Martha’s Vineyard Hospital leadership, representatives from the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) and other Island leaders to find out how the federal government can help the Vineyard increase its stock of attainable year-round housing.

Peter Wharton addresses housing concerns with the senator. — Emma Kilbride

Senator Warren’s visit comes on the heels of her Road to Housing Act passing last month. The law seeks to make it easier for communities across the country to build new housing by clearing new paths to federal support.

Ahead of Friday’s visit, Senator Warren pointed out two provisions that she said could help the Vineyard build more housing. One makes it so that a permanent chassis for manufactured homes is no longer required on the site of an affordable housing build in order for it to be eligible for federal funding, which Senator Warren said could reduce Island affordable housing project costs by $10,000. The other allows the federal government to support affordable housing projects by funding infrastructure projects necessary to support an increasing population, like expanded schools or wastewater treatment facilities.

Senator Warren said she is working on a second housing bill and hopes to incorporate feedback from Island officials into its provisions.

“I want the Vineyard to do what the Vineyard wants … because ultimately, housing is local, and we have to preserve that local quality,” Senator Warren told the Gazette. “But at the same time, the crisis is national, and the federal government cannot stay asleep at the switch for another 35 years.”

Senator Warren’s visit to the Island on Friday began with a tour of Navigator Homes, the hospital’s mixed-use housing development in Edgartown that houses hospital employees and doubles as a long-term care facility. 

Hospital president Claire Seguin took Senator Warren through a hospital worker’s unit, as well as an assisted living building. Senator Warren said she was impressed by the project and that it served as part of the inspiration behind her housing bill that passed last month.

“The federal government’s not going to rewrite the zoning. That has to be done right locally and should be done locally,” she said. “But what we can do is we can create financial incentives. We can remove barriers to building.”

At the Chamber of Commerce, participants described an Island where many people face housing insecurity, employment often must include housing to be viable and housing projects are far more expensive than many other places in the country.

“Just in the past five years, we’ve seen costs of construction doubling,” said Philippe Jordi, CEO of Island Housing Trust.

Elizabeth Warren tours Navigator Homes with hospital president Claire Seguin. — Emma Kilbride

Martha’s Vineyard Commission chair Peter Wharton said that the Island’s limited development area and ecology further complicate efforts to increase housing.

“How do we balance the benefits and detriments of potential development?” he said.

Kevin Devine, chairman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), said that tribal members are feeling the housing squeeze and that it’s forcing them off their ancestral homelands.

“We’re losing our tribal members pretty heavily due to the cost of living here and the housing crisis,” Mr. Devine said. “The millionaires and billionaires are buying us out.”

State Sen. Julian Cyr, who represents the Cape and Islands in the Massachusetts legislature, emphasized the need for a transfer fee and housing bank on the Island, which would add a percentage tax onto most real estate transactions to create a continuous source of funding for affordable housing projects. 

Senator Cyr has led the charge to get Beacon Hill’s blessing for the housing, but this year, none of the bills that included this provision were approved, meaning it will be at least another two years before a transfer fee is implemented.

“If we don’t figure out how to subsidize middle-income, workforce-level housing broadly across the board … that will be determinative [of] whether or not this continues to be a year-round vibrant place with a year-round community and culture,” Senator Cyr said.

Senator Warren said she would continue working with representatives from the Island to figure out how to serve them at the federal level.

“This place is so beautiful, and it can’t just be reserved for a handful of billionaires and the people who serve them,” she said.