It may seem odd that a place where one house exists for every resident man, woman, and child could have an affordable housing crisis. But the fact that only 44% of the houses on Martha’s Vineyard are occupied year round is testament to the tremendous demand for seasonal homes in a highly desirable vacation and retirement destination.
This strong demand equates to high housing costs. The median home sale prices from 1997 to 2006 more than tripled to $695,000. While the economic recession in 2008 caused the median sales price to dip to about $650,000, this price would require a purchaser to have an income of $132,000. That is more than twice the Vineyard’s median income of $57,553. The simple fact is that second-home buyers from off-Island can typically out-bid Vineyarders for housing. The housing affordability gap is still too wide for those seeking to enter the Vineyard housing market.
Rental housing – which includes single-family homes, homes with one or more apartments, and multi-family structures - tends to provide lower cost accommodations than single-family dwellings, providing a stepping stone towards home ownership and a place for older people who want to downsize from home ownership.
Since the majority of homes are not occupied the year round, the 29% of Vineyard householders that rent must also compete with high-priced, short-term seasonal rentals, which creates another problem – unstable living arrangements. Homeowners rent out their homes at high rates during the summer to vacationers or to the estimated 5,000 seasonal workers. As a result, many year-round residents are forced to do the “Vineyard shuffle”, vacating their winter rental housing between May and September to look for temporary shelter such as an overcrowded house, tent, or even a car.
This voracious demand for short-term summer rentals also induces resident homeowners to voluntarily do the Vineyard shuffle, capitalizing on the influx of cash. This ability for homeowners – Vineyarders and off-Islanders alike - to derive rental income from their homes is part of their home purchase calculations, thus, further pushing upward the cost of housing on the Vineyard.
Given the high housing costs, affordable housing and community housing projects generally receive some form of direct or indirect subsidy. Some of the challenges faced in the creation of affordable housing, community housing, and other non-market housing include: the cost of financing the development and operation of these projects, competition for land with other land uses such as market rate housing and open space protection, the limited amount of available land in areas where zoning and wastewater infrastructure allow higher-density projects, as well as the sometimes lengthy regulatory and permitting processes that is sometimes compounded by NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) lawsuits.
In recent years, the towns and non-profit organizations have had great success in addressing various segments of Island’s non-market housing needs. Currently there are more than twenty housing organizations. Several hundred rental and home ownership units were created or are in the process of being created, and will be available to future generations in perpetuity. The following are some efforts of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Island entities to address the housing situation.
· Commonwealth enacted the Comprehensive Permit Law (Chapter 40B) in 1969, setting a target for each municipality to have 10% of the year-round housing stock designated for low and moderate income residents earning up to 80% AMI. The Comprehensive Permit Law allows developers to supersede local zoning regulations in towns that have not meet the 10% low and moderate housing target, provided that 25% of the project’s housing units are used for low and moderate income housing. Aquinnah is the only Vineyard town that met Commonwealths 10% goal.
· Over the last twenty-five years, 608 subsidized housing units were created, of which 404 housing units still qualify for the Commonwealth’s Subsidized Housing Inventory.
· Since 1999, there has been a strong grassroots effort on the Vineyard to address the Island’s housing needs. Generous support from towns and the broader community has funded professional staff for the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority, a Housing Needs Assessment for the Vineyard in 2001 (updated in 2005), and extensive public education and outreach.
· In 2004, the Legislature adopted special legislation for Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket allowing for perpetual deed restrictions for those earning up to 150% AMI. In 2005, the remaining four Island towns adopted the Community Preservation Act (which adds a 3% surcharge to property taxes to be earmarked for affordable housing, open space preservation, and historic preservation).
· Island Elderly Housing has provided 165 rental units for very low and low income elders on the Island and the Wampanoag Tribal Housing Authority provides 31 rental units.
· The Dukes County Regional Housing Authority’s Rental Assistance Program provides 75 rental units for year-round residents.
Much has been accomplished since the Island Plan process began a few years ago. There have been 35 new home ownership opportunities, the Town of Edgartown developed 60 rental units in the Morgan Woods project, and the Rental Assistance Program that facilitates property owners’ ability to rent on a year-round basis was expanded. There are now more housing options for working people that didn't exist a few years ago. But while there are more market and subsidized rental and ownership opportunities available, many households are unable to take advantage of these opportunities because the economic recession. Some individuals and families have reduced or more unstable income and are unable to meet lenders’ and potential landlords’ requirements. This is especially true for those with fixed, very low, or no incomes that are in increasingly distressing situations trying to meet housing and basic life needs on Martha’s Vineyard.
Continuing effort is still needed to allow the Vineyard to respond to the pressing housing needs that are simply not met by the private market. This should favor creating more community housing units, either with existing housing stock or through new construction. New projects should preferably be located in the growth areas outlined in the Land Use Guidance Plan (see section 3), but the challenge is so great that we have to be prepared to accept appropriate projects throughout the Island. Also, as discussed in section 3, we should look for ways to help community housing projects, and especially affordable housing projects, deal with the costs of meeting the wastewater treatment, energy efficiency, and other objectives outlined in the Island Plan, such as by using mitigation fees on market projects to fund these measures for affordable housing projects.
The provision of community housing is essential to preserving the social fabric of the Island community and to maintaining an adequate workforce to sustain the Vineyard’s economy.
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