A conversation Thursday about homelessness on Martha’s Vineyard shed light on the gravity of the Island’s housing shortage, and introduced a new initiative by Island churches set to begin next winter to provide emergency housing for those without a home.

Last Wednesday night, when the temperature dropped to 22 degrees on Martha’s Vineyard, more than a dozen people were homeless. A team of volunteers canvassed the Island as part of the annual point-in-time homeless count.

It’s common on the Vineyard to hear of someone couch surfing for a few weeks or struggling through a long transition between rentals, but the exact number of people without homes on the Vineyard remains elusive.

Last Saturday at the Vineyard Haven library, Alan Burt talked about working with the homeless population of Cape Cod for the past 20 years. On Dec. 13, he will spend the night sleeping outdoors with other advocates, in solidarity with the homeless, something he’s done for many years.

Last year, the homeless count in Dukes County found 119 homeless people, the highest in recent memory. But this year the annual measurement of the homeless population on a single night in January came and went with no count recorded.

Unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to enjoy winter at arm’s length. As reported in the last edition of the Gazette, there are approximately one hundred and sixty homeless people on the Vineyard.

They are the Island's most vulnerable but invisible population. And with an inadequate safety net for the homeless, members of the clergy and county administration are calling for an Islandwide response.

The United Nations has designated the first Monday in October of each year as World Habitat Day. This is a day to reflect on the state of our towns and cities and the basic right to adequate shelter for all. It is also intended to remind all of us of our collective responsibility for the future of the human habitat.

Each year, more than three million people experience homelessness. Millions of low-income American households have to pay more than 50 per cent of their income for rent when estimates say the figure should be no more than 30 per cent.

Like most Vineyarders, Connie Teixeira had not given much thought to the specter of homelessness on the Island. Then, this year, she found herself looking the reality of it in the face, day after day at the Tisbury Senior Center.

“We have a gentleman who comes and spends most of the day at the senior center, he has lunch in the senior program, and then he goes to the library until it closes, and from there he goes to wherever he can find a place to sleep, and stays there until they find out he’s there and they put him out,” she said.

As of the end of October, there were 65 fewer households on the waiting list for rental assistance on Martha’s Vineyard than there were in June.

On the face of it, that might seem like good news, or at least less grim news. But it’s not really, says Peter Temple, executive director of the Martha’s Vineyard Donors Collaborative.

It’s bad news, for two reasons. The first is that there still are 101 qualifying households in the line, compared with 87 now receiving help.