Islanders continue legislative push for housing

An initiative to create a transfer fee on the Island to fund affordable housing is continuing to gain traction, with locals from both Nantucket and the Vineyard testifying before state lawmakers this week for its support. 

On an Island where the median home price and number of short term rentals have skyrocketed by over a hundred percent, nearly half of local residents are cost burdened by housing, and year-round housing options are few and far between, advocates painted a data-driven picture of the reality for many families and essential workers. 

At times, the accounts were emotional, as the people who have been advocating for housing solutions say the crisis is only growing worse. 

“The time to act is now. We cannot afford to stand idly by while Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts grapples with the detrimental and erosive effects of the housing crisis,” Sheriff of Dukes County, Robert Ogden said as he addressed the committee. “We cannot afford to wait any longer.”

The bills before the committee on Wednesday afternoon — House Bill 4410 and Senate Bill 966 — were introduced during this legislative session by State Senator Julian Cyr and Representative Thomas Moakley. They are different from legislation heard by the Joint Committee on Revenue in September, but with the same end goal — the creation of a housing bank through a 2 percent transfer fee on real estate purchases over $1 million. 

The two latest bills specifically would allow regions with a seasonal economy to institute a transfer fee. The bills piggyback on the Affordable Homes Act, signed by the governor in late 2024, when the Island was designated as a seasonal community, along with Nantucket. Moakley and Cyr’s bills would allow communities with that distinction to create a housing bank of their own accord, and if passed, both the Vineyard and Nantucket would be able to move forward with the fee and housing bank. 

The proposed transfer fee and creation of a housing bank would function much like the existing Land Bank, which is funded with a transfer fee of its own for land preservation. 

“The answer for conservation 40 years ago? A transfer fee. The answer for housing today? The same thing. It worked then. It will work now,” John Abrams, the former CEO and co-founder of South Mountain Company and current member of the Coalition to Create the MV Housing Bank, testified in front of the committee. “That was land preservation. This is people preservation.”

On Wednesday, more than a dozen representatives from the Island including Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, Martha’s Vineyard Public Schools, and police force presented detailed accounts of how housing has affected their ability to hire, find qualified candidates to fill positions, and maintain staff. 

“Housing is raised as the number one reason people decline our offers in our school and the hospital,” All-Island School Committee chair and hospital staffer Amy Houghton said.

Houghton went on to tell the committee about the rentals available to locals currently. She presented similar information during the first hearing on transfer fee legislation in September before the Joint Committee on Revenue, when she said she found only one available year-round rental. 

This time, she found three. One, a seasonal rental at $1,800 for a 300-square-foot room in a house. Two, a more spacious room, also in a house with other people, for $2,000. Third, a $2,950, 900-square-foot two bedroom. With a local median household income of just over $100,000, already far higher than many Islanders are actually making, the two-bedroom apartment option would be over 30 percent of the monthly take-home pay. 

Houghton said the lack of housing options contributed directly to lower health outcomes in the local community, and referenced a recent Community Health Needs Assessment in which a lack of affordable and year-round housing was named as a top concern of Vineyard residents. 

Island Grown Initiative co-director Noli Taylor agreed. She spoke about housing and food insecurity on the Island, and said both needs are a high priority to herself and the organization.

“Thousands of our neighbors are having to choose between putting food on the table or a roof over their heads and that is an impossible choice to have to make,” she said to the committee.

The housing bank initiative was most recently the subject of public attention in 2022, when local voters overwhelmingly supported the prospect at town meetings. The bills failed to pass muster through the last legislative session, much to the dismay of local housing advocates, who say waiting to address a growing housing crisis is simply not an option anymore if Island businesses and organizations wish to retain essential workers. 

Much like the last time around, the Massachusetts Association of Realtors are publicly opposed to the option. But some members of the association have been on the other side of the legislation, testifying for the bills’ passage. 

Jim Feiner, an Island broker, is one real estate agent advocating for the bills to be passed. 

“There are almost no affordable homes. And when one becomes available, countless people and families are desperate to get it,” Feiner said to the Joint Committee on Housing. 

He added that over 450 households are on the rental home waiting list. 

“We no longer have a year round housing rental market, rather a growing unhoused population, where more people are living out of cars every year,” he continued, referencing the over 340 reported unhoused people on the Vineyard.  

Island business owners also showed their support for the bills. The long-time owner of Cronigs Market and current owner of the MV Times, Steve Bernier, appealed to the committee on Wednesday. “In your hearts, think about the importance of this,” he urged them. 

“Through 40 years [as the owner of Cronigs Market], I’ve watched our Island change. It’s not changing for the good. It’s getting more and more challenging. And I hate to use the word crisis, but we’re already there,” Bernier said. 

Bernier was joined by the owner and operator of the Ritz Cafe, Larkin Stallings, who said housing is his biggest hurdle when staffing his bar, which is open year-round and is a popular spot for locals in the off-season due to their live music offerings.  

“All questions, all discussions end up on housing eventually, because everyone is having a staffing shortage and every staffing shortage can be related back to housing,” Stallings said. 

Stallings said Island businesses, such as his, are struggling every year to maintain workers. He has three apartments available to his workers, but those are not enough. He described losing a beloved chef in recent years whose wife was a teacher, and said young families moving off-Island due to housing should be taken seriously. 

“We lost … a family that was trying to put down roots,” Stallings said. “We’re doing a bunch on the short haul, we need something that will carry us through the future.”