Harbor Homes secures new location for shelter

After three years of searching, and just a month after several staff and volunteers left the organization, the only shelter for unhoused individuals on the Island has secured a permanent location for its shelter. 

Harbor Homes purchased a new building, located at 515 Edgartown–Vineyard Haven Road in Vineyard Haven, in partnership with Island Housing Trust, a nonprofit that builds affordable housing, on March 3. Leadership at the nonprofit said in a press release that they plan to expand their year-round accommodations once the shelter opens. They added that the space will become a “comprehensive resource hub,” and will serve as a center for much of their administrative operations.

The $1.5 million property was paid for by private donors, Island Housing Trust, and a short-term loan from Martha’s Vineyard Bank. Harbor Homes’ board president said the nonprofit has made requests from each towns’ community preservation committee to fund the loan from the bank. Harbor Homes is continuing to fundraise for renovation costs, but 30 percent is already covered by donors. 

The announcement comes at a time of significant staff turnover. Winter shelter director Lisa Belcastro and several other employees left the organization last month. Harbor Homes has also had seven executive directors in the past six years. 

A former volunteer for the shelter, Mary Ellen McElroy, left after Belcastro resigned in February. She said it was largely Belcastro who advocated for a new building and paved the way for this new space. 

“She really did provide so much,” McElroy told The Times. “She was the shelter.”

Last month, Harbor Homes leadership ensured that programming continued through the change in personnel. They appointed two new co-directors, Pat and Polly Toomey, to Belcastro’s role. Both appointees will be running the shelter in the new location eventually. 

An interim zoning allowance last year made it possible for Harbor Homes to convert its women’s congregate housing at 111 New York Ave. in Oak Bluffs into the current winter shelter, after the previous location at Martha’s Vineyard Community Services was demolished due to a planned renovation project. That interim allowance will be up in April, so a permanent location couldn’t come at a more crucial time for the nonprofit and the unhoused people it helps. 

After April, the 25-bed shelter in Oak Bluffs will revert to its original purpose. The temporary New York Ave. space opened in November and operates overnight, with guests checked in at 6 pm and gone by 8 am the next morning. Occasionally, on cold days, they host warming centers in the building. 

“This is a great leap forward for Harbor Homes and the community we serve,” Maura FitzGerald, president of the board, said in the release. “Harbor Homes Center will allow our dedicated staff to continue providing exceptional care while expanding programming to better meet the needs of our clients.”

Homelessness has been a touchy topic for Islanders for decades. On an Island with stark wealth disparities, as well as a seasonal boost in population, many of the unhoused people are not known by visitors who vacation on Vineyard shores

For year-round Islanders, there has been a mix of pushback for a new permanent shelter and support for more housing initiatives to assist unhoused people. A previous hopeful location for a permanent shelter on Hudson Ave. in Oak Bluffs fell through due to abutters’ concerns. 

In the past, many unhoused people who lived in each respective town were known by name to year-rounders. But many more, such as co-workers, friends, and classmates, were never suspected to be without housing at all. All the while, homelessness has increased on the Vineyard, and affordable housing has become more difficult for locals to obtain. 

An annual data collection for the Cape and Islands that tracks homelessness on a specific day in January each year, called a Point in Time Count, showed a record number of unhoused people on the Island in 2025. There were 23 unsheltered individuals that year, compared with just one person the year prior, and a previous high of 14 people in January 2020. The data from this year has not yet been released. 

More than 340 individuals were unhoused in the Vineyard in the summer of 2025, according to data from Harbor Homes. In the winter, the shelter offers a respite for those who are without stable housing. Historically, unhoused individuals are on their own in the summer, with outreach and lunches the only offering by Harbor Homes due to the closing of their shelter doors in the spring. 

During the hot and humid months of the year, homelessness on the Vineyard is hidden deep in wooded areas, with tents peeking through the trees. One of those tented communities was cleared by police last summer due to an increase in calls reporting violence and fights to law enforcement in the area. 

A permanent, year-round location has been the planned next step for Harbor Homes for years, largely because of those considerations.

The property is centrally located on Edgartown–Vineyard Haven Road, and is just under 5,500 square feet. It’s a large home with a sprawling yard that is currently blanketed in snow, as well as a wraparound driveway that is a short distance from a nearby bus stop on the same street. It will eventually include Harbor Homes’ winter shelter, staff accommodations, and administrative offices. 

Harbor Homes also plans to add six new congregate housing units, funded by private donors and the Community Preservation Act in five of the Island’s six towns. The act allows towns to add a small tax for the purpose of housing developments, preservation of historic property, and other similar initiatives. 

“In addition to serving as a hub for services and homelessness prevention, we envision Harbor Homes Center as a place of peace and healing,” Jeanette de Jesus, interim executive director of Harbor Homes, said in the press release.