Vineyard clergy join call for housing action

They say it’s written in their religious scripts: the need to secure housing for everyone in the community.

And on Sunday, some 1,700 people — including from many faith institutions and several from the Vineyard — gathered at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury to support the religious leaders’ call for action on housing.

Along with the show of support, a letter signed by 150 religious leaders from around Massachusetts was sent to state lawmakers listing several demands, including the passage of legislation that would give towns the option to create a real-estate transfer fee — a mechanism long lobbied for by Islanders who want more resources for developing local housing.

Representing Vineyard clergy, the letter was co-signed by leaders from Grace Church in Vineyard Haven, the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury, the Martha’s Vineyard Island Clergy Association, St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, the United Methodist Church of Martha’s Vineyard, and Vineyard Assembly of God.

Pastor Matthew Splittgerber of Vineyard Assembly of God in Tisbury signed onto the letter; he has seen the need for affordable housing firsthand in his congregation. 

“We’ve lost five families who have had to move off of the Island due to the housing situation,” he says.

Splittgerber has also seen similar situations among those who become housing insecure. 

“It’s usually people that end up with a seasonal rental situation. Or, they’re in a house but the house is owned by someone else and it’s being sold out, and you have to suddenly leave and they have no place to go,” the pastor said.

Splittgerber was encouraged by the letter’s call to better fund affordable housing efforts. “Even to develop affordable housing here on the Island is so cost-involved,” he said. “Help is needed.”

The letter and event were organized by the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO). In the letter, the clergy referenced their faiths and how housing is failing the community.

“Our sacred texts repeatedly call for us to secure housing for all members of our communities, including the most vulnerable residents,” the letter reads.

The letter also criticized the quality of public housing across the state, and emphasized meeting communities’ needs.

“Too many, especially young people, renters, and families of color, are locked out of the opportunity to buy a home,” states the letter. “Too many of us are unable to afford housing where we grew up. In a time and place of so much abundance, we are falling short of the sacred and achievable vision of our faiths.”

A list of requests in the clergy’s letter:

“•Increase the public housing operating budget from $107 million to $189 million…

• Guarantee IDs to people coming out of prison…
• Increase funding for rental certificates for formerly incarcerated people…
• Keep at least $1.6 billion in capital repair funding for public housing in the Governor’s proposed housing bond bill…
• Give our communities the choice to locally pass real estate transfer fees to raise funding for local affordable housing.”

Vineyarders at town meetings across the Island in 2022 called for the passage of that final point, and many have rallied at the state house steps calling for lawmakers to support its passage. They say that it could boost revenue for the development of badly needed housing.

A group of Vineyarders from the Coalition to Create the Martha’s Vineyard Housing Bank also represented the Island in Roxbury on Sunday.