The housing crisis on the Vineyard is an ongoing conversation. But we aren’t alone in our struggle: Lack of housing is a worldwide issue caused by a number of factors, including an imbalance between housing supply and demand; decades of underbuilding; restrictive zoning laws; a shortage of less expensive starter homes; rising costs of construction, materials, and land; aging populations; rural depopulation, and more.
In some parts of America, young adults and families are leaving rural areas to attend college or seek out better employment opportunities — sometimes leaving vacant houses behind. Though the Island’s housing crisis isn’t specifically due to rural depopulation, we do share a common issue: vacant homes. There are more than 10,500 vacant homes — about 60 percent of all housing units –– on the Island, according to the Martha’s Vineyard Commission.
Other countries dealing with an overwhelming number of vacant houses include Spain and Japan. Just as in the U.S., many younger Japanese people who inherit rural properties are unable or unwilling to live in them, refurbish them, or even demolish them.
What does Japan have to do with the Island? Read on. Island resident Billy Dillon, retired employee and owner of South Mountain Company, is involved in several building projects both on the Island and in Japan. He and business partner Adam Miller are principal leaders of Kominka North America (KNA), an organization whose goal is to increase awareness, appreciation, and conservation of the structural heritage of rural Japan, through salvage and adaptive reuse of abandoned and derelict structures.
While on the Island, Dillon is busy working at the Meshacket project, and the Tackenash project next to the skate rink. “I am also working as owner’s rep on the Vineyard Haven library, and the Outdoor Learning Playground at the Edgartown School, and as an owner’s representative for the Island Housing Trust,” he says. “My Japan project [KNA] is to help my Japanese friends and try to save some amazing buildings from being destroyed.”
Through KNA, Dillon and Miller collaborate with Japanese partners Kominka Collective and Toda Komuten. The Kominka Collective, a nonprofit organization, is committed to the preservation of traditional Japanese buildings. They also bring reclaimed kominka (Japanese farmhouses), naya (barns), kura (storehouses), temples, and other traditional structures slated to be torn down to North America and other locations. Toda Komuten, a fifth-generation traditional design-build company based in Shinshiro, Aichi, Japan, handles the practical aspects of dismantling and preparing structures for shipment.
The idea of preserving, refurbishing, and reusing materials in the building field has grown in popularity. According to Global Market Insights Inc., the market for recycled and upcycled building materials was valued at $97.2 billion in 2024, and is expected to grow from $104.5 billion in 2025 to $212 billion in 2034. Reusing building materials also helps reduce waste in landfills, conserves natural resources, and lowers energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.
“Our catch phrase for both preservation and sustainability is ‘adaptive reuse,’” Dillon says. “We met a young woman at MIT recently, working on her Ph.D., who is really interested in saving old buildings as a way to store carbon.” Dillon says that currently, adaptive reuse has a broader presence in the U.S. than in Japan. “One example of this is the sizable trade in old barns in the U.S., which are often reconstructed as residences or converted to other uses [e.g., the Ag Hall]. We think that traditional Japanese timber structures, especially houses, offer a lot more potential for residential reuse here than barns.”
The concept of adaptive reuse of these Japanese structures is starting to gain traction in the U.S. “We are beginning the process of moving four Japanese buildings to the San Diego Japanese Friendship Garden and Museum. A building that began its life as a kura [fireproof storehouse] for a silk thread factory will become a woodworking shop (in progress) for a colleague in the Berkshires,” Dillon says.
So could these salvaged structures be an option to address the housing shortage on the Island? Dillon thinks so. “The smaller-size kura would be perfect for ADUs here. Kuras are small, two-story gabled buildings that could blend in architecturally in any town in New England on the outside, while remaining entirely Japanese on the inside, with open and easily adaptable plans. We see these buildings having many varied uses here — as restaurants, commercial spaces, retreat spaces, and yoga studios — in addition to beautiful Japanese-style modern homes. Right now, we have an amazing theater from the grounds of a Shinto shrine, in Shinshiro, Japan. Its one floor and 900 square feet are perfect ADU size.”
Where there is a will, there is a way, they say. Out-of-the-box thinking, planning, and building could be one way to help the housing crisis, while preserving and honoring historical structures by reimagining ways to use them. If you’re interested in learning more, reach out to https://kominkanorthamerica.com. To see a list of buildings currently available to save, go to https://kominkanorthamerica.com/buildings-to-save.
