At a construction site in West Tisbury, a cluster of duplexes is almost completed in a project by the nonprofit Island Housing Trust (IHT). Shared front porches are still empty, the grass has yet to be planted, construction dust still hangs in the air, and the four buildings still await finished house siding.
But for the few dozen locals gathered last Thursday for a long-awaited groundbreaking ceremony at 401 State Road, the unfinished homes represent one step of many toward additional affordable housing on Martha’s Vineyard.
“Over the past decade, we’ve lost close to 600 year-round homes to investment properties and summer property owners. And right now, we have about 38 percent of our total housing stock [as year-round homes], which is a historic low,” IHT CEO Philippe Jordi said in his speech to the crowd last Thursday. He referenced the around 20,000 year-round Islanders who struggle to find housing, especially in the summer months, when the Vineyard is home to around 100,000 visitors. “We realize now that this is not just a social issue, it’s an economic one.”
The 401 State Road project is on a 3.1-acre parcel of land with the surrounding two acres left as conserved woodland. It consists of eight one- and two-bedroom units that will be restricted to year-round housing. Two of the duplexes will be available to locals making 100 percent or below the area median income; for an individual, that income is $114,200, and for a family of four, it’s $163,000 annually, according to the 2026 Dukes County Income Chart. The other two duplexes will be available for locals making up to 80 percent of the area median income, which is an annual income of $74,800 for an individual and $106,800 for a family of four. Tenants are slated for selection through a Dukes County Regional Housing Authority lottery, although that process hasn’t begun yet.
The groundbreaking was a bit unusual for those who attended, as the buildings are already constructed, but the event brought in housing officials from across the Island. The project has been in the works for over a decade, but IHT, a local nonprofit that develops affordable housing, took on the project only in 2022.
The development was produced through the partnership of multiple local entities, such as West Tisbury voters, the town’s select board and affordable housing committee, and local housing advocates. The duplexes, and the pocket neighborhood that will be built around them, were supported and funded by additional local and state organizations, including MassHousing, the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities’ Rural Development and Seasonal Communities Fund, Vineyard Power, MassSave, and Santander Bank; through Community Preservation Act funds from West Tisbury, Aquinnah, Edgartown, and Tisbury; and by private donors.
“We feel that this type of investment is critically important, and that’s why we need, as a community, to step up,” Jordi said to the crowd on Thursday.
The project is on town-owned land, and the West Tisbury Select Board originally awarded the building contract to South Mountain Company, a construction and solar energy company, but eventually passed it to IHT after South Mountain cited issues with the West Tisbury Affordable Housing Committee’s oversight.
Island Housing Trust has built a number of projects in West Tisbury over the past 20 years; 401 State Road joins Scott’s Grove, completed in 2018; Elikim’s Way, completed in 2010; Harpoon Lane, completed in 2013, and others. “And of those, we built an equal number of ownership and rentals, 24 each,” Jordi said. “This represents the fourth time that the town has designated a property to be used for affordable housing, and I think that the town should be commended for that.”
Jordi highlighted the workplace-housing shortage on the Island and pointed to the potential of new affordable units as addressing that gap. “Whether you’re a nonprofit or a business or a municipality, you need to have workers. You need to have a workforce that can sustain your business,” he said.
The project also tackled some sustainability improvements, like wastewater upgrades, that could benefit the surrounding ecosystem, including nearby ponds. “It was surprising to me to find that rainwater that comes in the ground here travels underground to Lake Tashmoo, which is struggling right now,” Keith McGuire, IHT senior real estate manager, explained. “So this system is a wonderful contribution to make the Island cleaner and healthier.”
The neighborhood is expected to be completed by the end of this year, with tenants moving in in the beginning of 2027. West Tisbury Select Board member and former affordable housing committee chair Jess Miller, who worked closely with the development of the project, reflected on the near conclusion of it, and said: “We look forward to seeing this lovely pocket neighborhood — where I would love to live, actually — occupied, and to see[ing] it take shape as a great addition to our community.”
Affordable?