Lake Street Affordable Housing Ribbon Cutting Fulfills Dreams
Ivy Ashe

“I’ve never had a pantry!” Geneva Corwin said as she toured her newly finished kitchen for the first time. “I have cupboards now, it’s amazing.”

The pantry itself was still empty, but “it won’t be for long,” husband Calvin Corwin said.

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Languishing Affordable Housing Deal Headed to Superior Court
Sara Brown

A six-year-old public-private project that was aimed at creating affordable housing and an expanded area of conservation land in Chilmark has landed in Dukes County superior court. The project dates to 2007 and involves the town, the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank and the Howard B. Hillman family.

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Accidental Developer Brings About Unique Take on Housing Plan
Remy Tumin

Jim Feiner is not your average affordable housing guy. He has no public funding, no board of directors and certainly no trust fund. But he has an idea.

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West Tisbury Affordable Housing Recipients Announced
Remy Tumin

Two young West Tisbury families were the happy winners in a lottery held this week for two new affordable homes.

Spencer Binney and Lizzy Kent, their baby daughter Willow and her brother Levi will move into a home at 619 Edgartown-West Tisbury Road next month. Jason and Darcy Neago and sons Tristan and Griffin will be their next-door neighbors.

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Housing Needs Study Shows Island Aging, Poverty Rising
Sara Brown

There are consistent problems when it comes to housing needs on the Vineyard: an affordability gap, caused by high housing prices in a largely seasonal community paired with low wages, has long made it hard for year-round residents to rent or own housing on the Island.

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Regional Cooperation Needed to Tackle Affordability Gap
Remy Tumin

Community action and regional cooperation will be critical as the Island tackles new solutions to an old problem: affordable housing.
This was the consensus among community leaders who gathered at the Oak Bluffs Library Wednesday night to hear a presentation on the first draft of the Housing Needs Assessment Study.

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Loan Repayments by Affordable Housing Fund Raise Questions
Remy Tumin

West Tisbury selectmen voted to seek legal advice this week after a report from the town accountant found that money earmarked for second mortgages was inappropriately spent by the Island Affordable Housing Fund.

Bruce Stone, town accountant, presented the selectmen with a report that town-appropriated money for second mortgages was used for paying off prior loans for housing developments and other expenses. All of the money was accounted for, Mr. Stone said.

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Sepiessa Affordable Housing Expansion Approved

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission has approved a plan to expand the Sepiessa Affordable Housing development in West Tisbury.

The application from the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority and the Island Housing Trust will add three affordable housing units with six bedrooms to the housing development on Clam Point Road. Right now, the housing complex consists of four units with six bedrooms.

The development is located on a three-acre parcel of land with a Title V septic system.

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Housing Crisis Spurs Initiatives
MANDY LOCKE

Housing Crisis Spurs Initiatives

Grim Housing Needs Assessment Underscores Important Search to Ease Lack of Affordable Shelter on the Vineyard

By MANDY LOCKE

Twenty-eight million dollars.

It's less than five per cent of the $6 billion Vineyard
housing market. It's only $6 million more than the recent $22
million sale of the former Sharpe house in Edgartown. It's but a
$233 contribution from each seasonal and year-round resident.

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Habitat for Humanity Celebrates
Katherine Wiley

Officials from the Martha's Vineyard chapter of Habitat for Humanity announced this week that they have signed a purchase and sales agreement to buy two acres of land in Edgartown.

The land is located off the West Tisbury Road near Bennett Way and, if all goes as planned, the group hopes to begin constructing two houses there late this spring.

It's apt that this news comes now, since this week also marks the completion of the chapter's first house on the Island.

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