On Monday, the Edgartown board of selectmen heard from Karen Tewhey, the president of the board of Harbor Homes, a nonprofit that was formed last December, who asked the town for funding as it pursues the purchase of a home. Harbor Homes seeks to provide permanent support of congregate housing to the lowest-income residents of the Island.
Harbor Homes is in the process of gathering funds from Island towns to purchase the home for five homeless people.
“What won’t work here is rental subsidies,” Tewhey said. “The vast majority of state and federal funding that’s coming to the Cape and Islands is for rental assistance. When Islanders get access to rental vouchers, they’re useless here.”
Harbor Homes is asking towns for funding through a warrant article at annual town meeting. Tewhey said they have received support from Oak Bluffs, West Tisbury, and Chilmark. They have $150,000 in funds, and are looking to double that through funding from all six Island towns.
Town selectmen, who criticized the Martha’s Vineyard Housing Bank campaign last week, expressed similar reservations about funding another housing initiative.
“We give so much in the affordable housing, low-income, median-income, moderate-income. We do the rental support … we pour a lot of money into all this,” selectman Arthur Smadbeck said. “There’s a limit.”
Smadbeck used Morgan Woods Apartments and a planned affordable housing site on Meshacket Road as examples of the town’s commitment to housing.
Selectman Margaret Serpa said she had issues with how Harbor Homes would be run without supervision on nights and weekends.
Rebecca Jamieson, a Harbor Homes board member, asked why supervision would be needed. “Is the reason why you feel they need supervision is because they are homeless? Because these other businesses that do congregate living, they don’t require supervision for their rental models, so what is your reason for believing that they need supervision? Is it strictly on the basis of their economic status?” Jamieson asked.
“Right now we don’t have the funds. That’s the bottom line,” Serpa said.
Smadbeck added the town is not ready to give them the tax dollars.
In other business, Edgartown Police Officer Jamie Craig was promoted to sergeant during a small ceremony.
Police Chief Bruce McNamee listed Craig’s history and several of his accomplishments to town selectmen — most recently his first-place completion of an extensive examination process that led to his promotion.
Craig is a fifth-generation Islander and second-generation Edgartown Police officer. He began his career in Edgartown in the 1980s, and is commander of the Island’s SWAT team.
“Short of waterboarding, I can’t think of anything worse that we could have subjected these guys to,” McNamee joked of the exam process.
Surrounded by several of his colleagues, Craig was accompanied by his mother Shirley and his son Riley as he was sworn in after selectmen approved the promotion 2-0. Selectman Mike Donaroma did not attend the meeting.
So, Rebecca Jamieson asks a legitimate, well presented question and Selectman Serpa responds in a curt, “because I say so”, authoritarian, manner and that is acceptable?
Answer Ms Jamieson’s queston Selectman Serpa!
We would all like to know the reasoning supporting your position regarding supervision for the prospective tenants of this proposed project.