Two young West Tisbury families were the happy winners in a lottery held this week for two new affordable homes.

Spencer Binney and Lizzy Kent, their baby daughter Willow and her brother Levi will move into a home at 619 Edgartown-West Tisbury Road next month. Jason and Darcy Neago and sons Tristan and Griffin will be their next-door neighbors.

West Tisbury selectmen voted to seek legal advice this week after a report from the town accountant found that money earmarked for second mortgages was inappropriately spent by the Island Affordable Housing Fund.

Bruce Stone, town accountant, presented the selectmen with a report that town-appropriated money for second mortgages was used for paying off prior loans for housing developments and other expenses. All of the money was accounted for, Mr. Stone said.

The Martha’s Vineyard Commission has approved a plan to expand the Sepiessa Affordable Housing development in West Tisbury.

The application from the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority and the Island Housing Trust will add three affordable housing units with six bedrooms to the housing development on Clam Point Road. Right now, the housing complex consists of four units with six bedrooms.

The development is located on a three-acre parcel of land with a Title V septic system.

Officials from the Martha's Vineyard chapter of Habitat for Humanity announced this week that they have signed a purchase and sales agreement to buy two acres of land in Edgartown.

The land is located off the West Tisbury Road near Bennett Way and, if all goes as planned, the group hopes to begin constructing two houses there late this spring.

It's apt that this news comes now, since this week also marks the completion of the chapter's first house on the Island.

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.

Housing Crisis Spurs Initiatives

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.

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.