A recent benchmark housing needs assessment conducted by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission paints an increasingly dire picture of the Island’s housing crisis.
A series of recently-completed housing plans show a year-round population straining under the weight of rents and mortgages amid prohibitive building costs and the pressures of a seasonal real estate market.
Low wages and a seasonal economy are a recipe for hardship for those looking for housing on the Vineyard and other resort communities, with high-cost second homes raising prices.
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.
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.
