MARTHA'S GOING TO BEACON HILL

The Coalition to Create The MV HOUSING BANK is organizing a day of action called "Martha goes to Beacon Hill" to show support of the Housing Bank bill at the state house on March 23rd.

If you want to join and show support on the day they are arranging all expenses covered travel there and back.  March 23rd is a week day, so the people that this matters to - working people - will most likely be unable to attend. We need anyone who can spare the time to go and so representatives from Tea Lane Associates will be there to show support - watch this space for more info on the day.

If you want to know more about event and how you can sign up or help click on their website 

This is what were dealing with here on Martha's Vineyard (following information taken from the CCMVHB website) 

The Problem:

• There is a $780,000+ gap between what the median-income Island family can afford and the median home sale price ($1.26 million in 2021).

• The pandemic-driven migration of seasonal residents increased the percentage of year-round occupied Vineyard homes from 38% to 51%. This only aggravated our affordable housing crisis - more need for services and less places for servicepersons to live.

• Over 1,000 year-round Vineyard residents are on waitlists for housing in their income range, according to Dukes County Regional Housing Authority.

• Rents are 30% above the statewide median while wages are 27% below the statewide median.

• Over 20% of year-round Vineyard residents - over 1,200 - pay more than half of their income on housing costs.

• Over 18% of the Vineyard’s 17,188 houses are used as short-term rentals (averaging $3,000 per week), exacerbating an already competitive market.

The Solution:

Our goal is to establish an Island-wide Housing Bank modeled on the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank, with Housing Bank proceeds directly addressing the housing crisis.

If the island had a Housing Bank producing $12 million a year (estimated from recent real estate transactions) and with at least 75% used for re-purposing existing properties, it could do the following in just one year:

Re-purposing & Improving

•      Convert two existing houses into eight income-restricted rental apartments.

•      Fill the funding gap for ten income-restricted accessory apartments to existing dwellings.

•      Loan eight families $200,000 of down payment assistance to access market-rate homes.

•      Buy six permanent year-round restrictions on existing short-term rental properties.

•      Grant or loan funds for ten denitrification wastewater upgrades in critical watershed areas

New Development

•      Fill the funding gap for six income-restricted net-zero housing units.

Thirty-eight new housing opportunities and an enhanced environment. Solutions - year after year.  (Housing Planners forecast a need of over 1000 new units over 20 years)

To achieve this, four of the six island towns must approve, then pass a bill through the Massachusetts Legislature. Across the Commonwealth, regions and towns are supporting state-level legislation to pave the way.