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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You know exactly who they are - your son's second grade teacher, your neighbor whose spouse left last year, the EMT who revived your father last month. It's the regional high school class of 1997.
This is but a snapshot of the nearly 2,000 faces of those unfortunate enough to struggle month after month, year after year with the lack of affordable housing on Martha's Vineyard.
You've heard their stories dozens of times, but do you know just how severe the affordable housing problem is?
Consultant John Ryan this week provided firm statistical underpinnings for what Islanders have known anecdotally for years as they watch the struggles of friends and neighbors: The housing crunch on Martha's Vineyard has become a full-blown crisis.
The Island Affordable Housing Fund hired Mr. Ryan of Development Cycles to study the Vineyard's affordable housing problem.
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.
It's the story of one Island family's refusal to gouge
another year-round family struggling to find a home in an expensive real
estate market. It's the story of a real estate broker determined
to find the perfect buyer - a moderate-income Island family
desperate to buy their own home after a decade of shuffling from one
inadequate rental to another.
For once, it's an affordable housing story with a happy
ending.
MVC Power of Review on Housing Projects Upheld in Key Ruling by
State Land Court
By JULIA WELLS Gazette Senior Writer
In a groundbreaking decision that affects every town on the
Vineyard, the chief justice of the Massachusetts Land Court ruled last
week that the Martha's Vineyard Commission has full power of
review over low and moderate income housing projects under Chapter 40B,
a section of state law commonly known as the anti-snob zoning statute.
