Key takeaways:
- Martha’s Vineyard is facing a severe year-round housing shortage.
- The housing crisis is becoming a workforce and community sustainability issue.
- Warren is looking at federal incentives, but local solutions will remain crucial.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren visited Martha’s Vineyard on August 14 to examine the island’s housing crisis and hear from local officials, business owners, housing advocates and community leaders about the challenges facing year-round residents.
Warren’s visit began at Navigator Homes in Edgartown, a nonprofit elder-care facility that includes workforce housing for employees of the facility and Martha’s Vineyard Hospital. The project stood out to Warren as an example of how housing can be incorporated into developments serving essential community needs.
She later met with local leaders at the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce in Vineyard Haven. The discussions focused on the shortage of affordable, year-round housing and the effect that rising housing costs are having on the island’s workforce and economy.
Warren is currently developing a new federal housing proposal, which she has referred to as “Housing 2.0.” She said she wants to use feedback from communities such as Martha’s Vineyard to shape the legislation and identify ways the federal government can help increase housing supply without taking local zoning decisions out of the hands of communities.
“The federal government’s not going to rewrite the zoning,” Warren said during the visit. Instead, she said, Washington could create financial incentives and remove barriers that make housing development more difficult.
Housing shortage creates workforce pressure
Local leaders described a housing market that has become increasingly difficult for people who live and work on the island throughout the year.
Philippe Jordi, CEO of Island Housing Trust, said only about 38% of Martha’s Vineyard’s housing stock is occupied year-round. The remainder is largely made up of seasonal or investment properties, leaving fewer homes available to people who depend on the island for their livelihoods.
The shortage has become particularly challenging for local businesses. Lora Ksieniewicz, a business owner who participated in the roundtable, said housing has become one of the biggest obstacles to staffing businesses and retaining employees.
Construction costs are adding another layer to the problem. Jordi said costs on the island have doubled over the past five years, making it increasingly expensive to develop new housing. The island’s limited land and environmental considerations also restrict how much additional construction can take place.
Peter Wharton, chair of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission, said the community must balance the need for more workforce housing with the responsibility to protect the island’s rural character and environmental capacity.
The housing shortage is also affecting the island’s Indigenous community. Kevin Devine, chairman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), told Warren that rising costs and limited housing are contributing to tribal members leaving their ancestral homeland.
For local leaders, the issue is therefore about more than affordability. They argue that ensuring access to housing is essential to preserving a functioning year-round community.
Warren points to federal housing measures
Warren’s visit came shortly after the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act became law. She highlighted provisions that could potentially benefit communities facing high construction costs and limited housing supply.
One provision removes a federal funding requirement involving permanent chassis for certain manufactured homes. Warren said the change could reduce the cost of some affordable housing projects by roughly $10,000 and potentially encourage greater innovation in manufactured housing.
The legislation also creates opportunities for federal support for infrastructure needed to accommodate additional housing, including projects involving schools and wastewater systems.
Elizabeth Warren also suggested that targeted federal tax incentives could help communities with unique circumstances, including places with seasonal economies. Such incentives could provide more consistent funding for local housing initiatives without requiring communities to seek new federal appropriations every year.
Local officials are also pursuing solutions at the state level. State Sen. Julian Cyr has advocated for a real-estate transfer fee and a housing bank that could provide a continuing source of funding for affordable and workforce housing. However, proposals containing the transfer-fee provision were not approved this year.
Warren said the federal government must play a role while allowing Martha’s Vineyard to determine how it wants to grow.
The visit highlighted the difficult balance facing the island: creating enough housing for workers and families while protecting its limited land, environment and distinctive community character. For Warren, the discussions offered a closer look at how federal housing policy could respond to those competing demands as she develops her next legislative proposal.
