Our black Lab made the connection, the way dogs always seem to do. Henry went right up to the stranger, wagging his tail, and she began petting him. The child, who looked about 10 years old, was nicely dressed and waiting quietly outside our thrift store, where my wife was inside, searching for treasures. I assumed the little girl was a summer resident, perhaps from Greenwich, Conn., or some other wealthy town, and that her mother, like my wife, was also inside. As she was petting our dog, I struck up a conversation based on those (erroneous) assumptions. When I asked her where she lived, she told me they were moving in a few days because the owners were coming to the Island. Before long, I learned that her mom worked at the thrift store, part-time, to supplement their income, and that her family moved as many as five times every year because they couldn’t afford a home or apartment.
This happened 12 or 13 years ago, but I still remember being shocked, because to my way of thinking, every child needs and should have a room of their own, a place they can decorate with favorite posters and keep their special stuff, a place they can retreat to.
I told my wife about it, we did some digging, and we were shocked to learn that Martha’s Vineyard had a housing crisis. That’s when we got involved with the Island Housing Trust, a remarkable organization. And while IHT has built homes for several hundred essential workers and their families over the past 20 years, the need is greater than ever. Housing prices continue to soar, as off-Islanders bid up prices. The “affordability gap” between what a median-income household can afford and the median home price is now a staggering $1.5 million.
Just one year ago, about 40 percent of units were available for year-round rental, but unfortunately more and more units are now being rented to tourists by the week, removing them from the reach of year-round residents. One consequence is housing insecurity at almost all income levels. Fire departments, law enforcement, emergency management, public safety, wastewater treatment, public works departments, town halls, and our public schools struggle to attract and retain employees. For example, our hospital reports that about 20 percent of staff positions are unfilled because potential hires cannot find housing.
It’s estimated that 40 percent of year-round Island households are forced to spend excessive amounts on housing, with a majority spending more than 50 percent of their income. Perhaps as many as 100 Islanders are homeless; many others have month-to-month leases, or are crashing with friends, and lots of essential workers commute daily from the Cape.
Joan and I have been through this before, during the first tech boom in the early 2000s. We were in its epicenter, Palo Alto, Calif., and real estate went through the roof. Houses that were listed for, say, $400,000 ended up selling for three times that amount. Apartment rents doubled and tripled, and suddenly some of the men and women whose services kept Palo Alto running smoothly were forced to relocate to cheaper apartments two or more hours away from their workplaces. Some workers even took to sleeping in their cars during the week, parked on Palo Alto’s side streets, to avoid the four-hour commute.
Palo Alto is not an island, of course, and eventually things settled down. But here on Martha’s Vineyard, we are eating our seed corn when we fail to make certain that essential workers can afford to live here.
A partial solution is an Island-wide Housing Bank, into which 2 percent of every sale price over a certain amount is deposited, money that then becomes available for building affordable, attainable housing. That bill is in front of the Massachusetts legislature now. You can voice your support for the bill at ccmvhb.org/testimony#11, the website of the Coalition to Create the MV Housing Bank.
I’ve often wondered what happened to that young girl, who would be in her early 20s now. Did she ever have a room of her own? Was she able to grow up here, or was her family forced to leave for the mainland?
It’s too late to help that young girl, but you can help IHT build hundreds more homes for our essential workers. When you make a pledge to IHT, it’s not simply charity. It’s also in your self-interest, because organizations like IHT that help year-round Islanders achieve the American dream of a home of their own actually protect your investment in your vacation home and the wonderful lifestyle that Martha’s Vineyard offers you and your family.
This is an Island, and without essential workers, it will eventually grind to a halt. If we fail to invest in affordable, attainable housing, we will be forcing many more essential workers to commute by ferry every day. Ergo, expect serious limitations on all sorts of essential services. Or, eventually, no service at all. It’s our choice.
Edgartown resident John Merrow will soon be “biking his age” once again to raise money for the Island Housing Trust. To contribute to IHT, go to igtmv.org.