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.
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.
The chief justice of the Massachusetts Land Court heard arguments
this week in a groundbreaking case that will ultimately decide whether
the Martha's Vineyard Commission has the power to review low and
moderate-income housing projects under Chapter 40B, a section of state
law commonly known as the anti-snob zoning statute.
When leaders of the Island Affordable Housing Fund (IAHF) say they'll be collecting $14 million within five years, it's clear there's no room for negotiation.
"There's a lot to be done," John Abrams, chairman of the young non-profit's board, said flatly.
NANTUCKET - Walter Beinecke's name is spoken with a sense of awe and an undercurrent of resentment. He's the fellow, people here will tell you, who in the 1960s awoke this sleepy little island. He's the entrepreneur, who, owning much of Nantucket's downtown and practically all of the working harborfront - jammed with more fishing vessels than tourists in those days, did the math. He figured the place could benefit more from 100 people spending $100 each than 1,000 people buying a $10 T-shirt.
Ruling that the dire need for low-cost rental housing trumps traffic
concerns, the Martha's Vineyard Commission voted unanimously last
night to approve the Pennywise Path affordable housing project in
Edgartown.
Three feet of snow blanketed the ground that day in 1977 when more than two dozen Islanders trudged into the First Congregational Church in West Tisbury, hoping to win a small piece of the Vineyard.
Ann Milstein was pregnant. Pat Carlet had three small daughters in tow. One by one, Vineyard Open Land Foundation (VOLF) officials pulled names out of a box, awarding five Island families the right to buy land in Pilot Hill Farm at a bargain rate.
Weighing the pressing need for affordable housing over its other planning principles, the Martha's Vineyard Commission early this morning approved with heavy conditions an unusual 11-unit subdivision in the rural outposts of Edgartown.
"This is really a referendum on us as a community. If we can't find a way to provide homes for our working-class residents, then we fail," said commissioner Chris Murphy of Chilmark. "The results of this project are damn good. I think the applicant should be proud, and we should be proud."
