Harbor Homes opened its annual winter shelter this month and already a dozen people, several of whom are first time visitors, have checked in for at least one overnight stay.
The shelter is located on the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services campus, in a former pre-school building which has sleeping rooms for men and women and a dining area for meals and meetings.
This will be the final year for the current location, though, as the building is slated for demolition in the Community Services campus overhaul.
A homeless shelter without a home is not inconceivable as the organization has eyed at least two possible new locations but decided not to pursue the properties after community backlash.
The number of homeless people continues to grow, however, both on the Island and around the country. The predicament on Martha’s Vineyard is part of a nationwide condition, said Harbor Homes executive director Brian Morris.
“On a certain night, [last winter], there were 653,000 homeless Americans spending nights at shelters,” he said. “The struggle’s real.”
During a round-table interview this week, Harbor Homes staff members discussed their expanding efforts to alleviate homelessness on the Island.
During last winter’s season, which ended April 20, the shelter saw a record total of 54 individual guests, of whom 32 were new to Harbor Homes. Most regular shelter guests have been men, but women have also spent the night on occasion, said shelter manager Lisa Belcastro.
In previous years, the winter shelter was limited to 20 guests and two staff members. But due to increased need, the organization sought and received from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School, which owns the property, an increase to 25 guests and three staff members this winter.
Now that the weather is growing colder, Ms. Belcastro expects to see more people.
Taking advantage of the recent mild spell, the shelter had a cookout Monday, with Among the Flowers chef and co-owner Pat Toomey bringing a grill and fryer from the Edgartown eatery.
“He did hamburgers, hot dogs, cheeseburgers to order, and tater tots and salad for the guests,” Ms. Belcastro said.
Other organizations also pitch in to provide food for the shelter, which offers dinner and breakfast as well as a place to sleep on winter nights. The Pawnee House restaurant in Oak Bluffs and several Island churches help provide meals. The Federated Church in Edgartown has even published a benefit cookbook, Joyful Eatings, based on its popular cooking classes in which top Island chefs lead volunteers through the preparation of a shelter meal.
Ms. Belcastro and two staff supervisors manage the shelter with the help of about 40 volunteers, who contribute with everything from check-in and meal service to housekeeping and laundry.
Volunteers are also providing lessons in both Brazilian Portuguese and English as a second language for shelter guests, staffers and other volunteers, Ms. Belcastro said.
More than a third of last season’s shelter guests were Brazilian, she said, a number that roughly mirrors the Island community.
Mr. Morris, a longtime Island recovery coach who took over as the nonprofit’s executive director in August, said finding a place for the permanent winter shelter remains his top priority.
In 2022, Harbor Homes received a 10-year, $2.5 million grant from the Massachusetts Department of Housing and Community Development to develop a permanent winter shelter, but finding the right property has been a persistent challenge. A hoped-for permanent location on Hudson avenue in Oak Bluffs fell through last year, and Harbor Homes ended an agreement to purchase a site on Dukes County avenue last month after the town denied its wastewater application.
“We are steadfastly determined,” Mr. Morris said. “We currently have our eyes on what we think is a prize, but it’s early days and we really can’t go there yet,” he added, expressing confidence in the outcome. “We’re gonna end up
where we’re supposed to end up, and it’s gonna be just right, across the board.”
Mr. Morris recently hired former MVCS program coordinator Chrissie Laury as Harbor Homes’ director of operations, bringing the full-time staff to four: Mr. Morris, Ms. Laury, Ms. Belcastro and Sharon Brown, who doubles as homelessness prevention coordinator and case worker for shelter guests and residents in the nonprofit’s two congregate homes. Mr. Morris said he is also in the process of hiring a grant writer.
In addition to running the shelter, Harbor Homes owns two homes, one for men and one for women, for Islanders who are transitioning out of homelessness. Residents must have been sober for at least 18 months and have an income, however low.
“A few of them do work. Some of them are on social security,” said Ms. Brown said.
Other residents are on fixed incomes and have not been able to find housing they can afford, she said.
Originally established to help Islanders transition out of homelessness, the congregate homes have become a lifeline for Islanders who have lost other housing for reasons outside their control.
“There are multiple reasons that someone could be in one of the homes,” Ms. Brown said. “I get referrals from the hospital, I get referrals from community services [and] we have a waiting list of people that apply,” she said.
One woman, she said, stayed at the women’s house while recovering from an injury that had left her unable to work.
“She was here for a very short time, and then she transitioned back into life and back into work,” Ms. Brown said.
Mr. Morris said Harbor Homes would like to acquire another congregate home, but the permanent winter shelter comes first.
“We have a strategic plan that’s about to be reassessed [and] a third home is part of that plan,” he said.
The Harbor Homes winter shelter is located at 111 Edgartown Road, Building A, on the Martha’s Vineyard Community Services campus. It is open from Nov. 1 through April 19. Guests can arrive between 6 and 7 p.m. For more information, call 508-560-3678 or visit harborhomesmv.com.
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