A recent benchmark housing needs assessment conducted by the Martha’s Vineyard Commission paints an increasingly dire picture of the Island’s housing crisis.

In 2005, the first housing bank initiative on Martha’s Vineyard won support from all six Island towns.

The West Tisbury affordable housing committee is looking for property to develop.

As voters in four towns prepare to weigh in next week on a wide range of issues at annual town meetings, one issue has dominated Island discourse: the proposal to create a housing bank.

Question, concerns and support were all expressed at a housing bank forum held to discuss the details of two warrant articles coming to town meeting floor this season.

A campaign to establish a Martha’s Vineyard housing bank using revenues from the new short-term rental tax is running into stiff opposition in some Island towns.

Next month, 21 Islanders in need of an income-adjusted, year-round lease will move into the new Scott’s Grove affordable housing units in West Tisbury.

The Oak Bluffs selectmen voted this week to complete a complicated, long-delayed land swap between the town and the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank involving parcels in the Southern Woodlands.

Daniel Consoni, a 29-year-old Edgartown resident, won the right to buy a one-bedroom loft in downtown Edgartown in a lottery drawing Monday afternoon.