Gabriel Bengtsson, a junior at Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School (MVRHS), knew housing was a local issue that needed attention. But until one early morning boat ride after a family trip, when he saw dozens of people commuting to their on-Island jobs from the mainland, he hadn’t grasped the magnitude of the local housing crisis or the many creative ways people deal with it.
“That’s when I knew what my project was going to be about,” Bengtsson said. “The housing crisis isn’t a headline, it’s life. It’s what some people have to go through daily.”
To grapple with the reality he was now aware of, Bengtsson decided to film a documentary about the local housing crisis for a Capstone project, which is an optional semester-long venture for students who want to pursue knowledge outside their structured classes. He interviewed local experts as well as a student and teacher who had both experienced housing insecurity firsthand.
Bengtsson presented his finished documentary, which he titled “Priced Out of Paradise,” on a recent Friday afternoon in January to a panel of three judges and a small audience of his peers. He tenaciously outlined his research in the MVRHS library, the lights dimmed to better show his homemade film on a pull-down screen in the front of the room. His own life experience, and that of his friends, had compounded all the data he found and made it personal.
There was one central question that guided his research: “In a system that favors property over people, what happens to a community when the people can’t afford to stay?”
Bengtsson said he watched multiple friends leave the Island they loved because their families couldn’t find affordable housing or afford basic necessities, such as groceries, which are priced higher on the Island than the mainland. Some people he knew even moved out of the country. “Every goodbye felt temporary, until it wasn’t,” Bengtsson expressed.
What Bengtsson found after scouring articles and conducting interviews was that low- to middle- income earners across the U.S. are struggling with housing. His personal insight came after he immersed himself in the data, and it was one he asked the audience to grapple with during his presentation.
“Think about housing not as a market but as a human right,” he said.
Bengtsson’s documentary — about a half-hour in length — was primarily filmed under the bright, fluorescent lights of MVRHS classrooms and hallways, with cut-out clips of news articles about the housing crisis colorfully collaged on the screen. There was music in the background of each scene, along with cuts between the interviewees and photo sets, when Bengtsson’s narration would come in with facts and figures about housing.
Bengtsson explained that more than 40 percent of Islanders are “cost-burdened” by housing costs, meaning they spend over half of their monthly income on rent or mortgage payments. He pointed out that rental assistance, land trust, and zoning are all relevant pieces of the housing puzzle, but the center of all of it is the people.
To better illustrate the reality of the Island’s unique housing situation, Bengtsson brought in some local experts — Philippe Jordi of Island Housing Trust (IHT) and David Vigneault of the Dukes County Housing Authority.
Jordi is the chief executive officer of IHT, a nonprofit organization that builds affordable housing projects on the Vineyard. He spoke in the documentary about local housing from his perspective, and mentioned the affordability gap between what an Islander who makes 150 percent of the area median income, or about $168,500 yearly, can afford to pay for a home, and the median price of a house. The gap ranges from $391,000 in Tisbury to more than $1.1 million in Aquinnah.
While Jordi said Island Housing Trust receives funding from private donors and the town, the crisis of affordability has prevailed, and developments cannot match the need. He added that personal stories make a difference.
“More than anything, people hearing your stories or other people’s stories is critical,” Jordi said to Bengtsson.
A student who was interviewed for the project, junior Kayo De Oliveria, was one of those.
“Ten years ago, we were searching for housing, and that was awful,” Kayo said in the interview conducted by Bengtsson. “A lot of people take it for granted if they already have it.”
Kayo said as his family navigated housing insecurity and moved from place to place, he asked himself, “Who is really being affected, and are there any solutions? What could someone like me do?”
Bengtsson also interviewed Sheila McHugh Hazell, a guidance counselor at MVRHS. Hazell said she lived in a shack that had no running water for years with her partner.
“It’s hard to invite somebody to your shack with no bathroom,” Hazell said. “I didn’t realize the impact that would have socially.”
For Hazell, it was the little things that she still remembers after eventually moving into a house, like keeping her toothbrush in the center console of her car since she didn’t have a sink at home. She acknowledged how hard it was to live like that, and at times, she questioned whether to leave the Island. But she’s ingrained in the community here, and decided to keep moving forward.
“This is my community. This is home,” Hazell said. “My everything is here.”
Bengtsson highlighted the community that is grappling with the housing crisis in an effort to understand his peers, his teachers, and his own family after they were in housing transitions for a few years. What he discovered was a system that is indiscriminately built for a higher income bracket, while much of the year-round population makes far less.
But he said he will keep pushing to tell the stories of people who are navigating their own housing crisis in quiet moments, so that people he knows are less likely to leave home before asking for help.
“Home is not a place, it’s the people who are there. This documentary is my attempt to make sure fewer people disappear quietly, and that their stories stay,” Bengtsson said.
Hats off to you, Gabriel, for doing meaningful, important work. Keep it up, you are what we need in this world. Don’t stop asking the tough questions. Thank you!
The stories Gabriel tells in his documentary are important for all of us to hear. While the housing crisis is an intractable problem to solve, Gabriel gives me hope that MVRHS students will be the civic problem solvers we need for the Island’s — and our world’s — future.
Often overlooked: 100 years ago, ‘affordable housing’ for immigrant families often involved 2 family houses.
Two-family homes (often referred to as “double houses” or “duplexes”) in Cambridge during the early 20th century were a dominant form of residential development, serving as a transitional, middle-class alternative to single-family homes and dense three-deckers. These structures were frequently built to meet increasing housing demands in areas like Cambridgeport, Mid-Cambridge, and West Cambridge, often allowing owners to live in one unit and rent out the other.
The rental unit dramatically changes the ‘affordability’ balance. Do the math. Encourage two family housing on MVY?? Tax incentives? might also address rental unit shortage.
All so called triple deckers in Fall River and New Bedford.
As many as nine units on a tenth of an acre
They are now pretty much owned by slumlords.