The affluent U.S. island beloved by the Obamas – and favored in summer by hordes of the rich and famous – is facing a housing shortage that has got so severe it is ‘threatening public safety’ for its residents.
Staggering seasonal rents – averaging nearly $1,000 a night – are forcing regular workers, including restaurant, store employees, doctors, correctional officers and 911 dispatchers, to flee their jobs on Martha’s Vineyard, amid the lack of affordable housing, jeopardizing the town’s public’s safety, officials said.
Sheriff Robert Ogden of Dukes County said the cost of housing has gotten so bad, he now considers it a public safety issue on the island.
Ogden said his department, which oversees 11 islands including Martha’s Vineyard, has a staffing need of 11 emergency operators who provide lifesaving 911 instructions and relay to responders by phone – including CPR instructions.
A home in the quaint New England colony just south of Cape Cod can run upwards of $6,500 for a week stay, particularly during the peak summer months. And the mounting problem is that many landlords are more interested in cashing-in on these short-term visitors in place of their year-round working residents.
Beautiful homes line Oak Bluffs Harbor in Martha’s Vineyard located in Massachusetts in the Atlantic just south of Cape Cod
Former President, Barack Obama, and former First Lady Michelle Obama, owns a $11.75 million vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard that they purchased in 2020
The number, he said, has been challenging to maintain, as the operators are often working long hours, and burned out from working too much overtime, he said.
For the last six years, Ogden said he has been working towards imposing a local tax on home sales to help pay for affordable housing on the island, but said that still requires new state legislation.
He called it ‘a vicious cycle.’
‘Every year, we’re losing two to three dispatchers because of not only the high cost of living here, but the insecurity of housing,’ he said.
He shared that one correctional officer, who is trained, had to take cleaning jobs so she didn’t earn too much and lose her access to low-income housing.
‘Can you imagine, in any society, where you would say that I pay someone too much to stay on the job?’ Ogden said. ‘How insane is that?’
Former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama purchased the sprawling 28-acre vacation home on Martha’s Vineyard for $11.75 million in 2020, Homes & Gardens reported.
Celebrities that have visited the island over the years include, Reese Witherspoon, Bill Murray, Meg Ryan, and the late Princess Diana, and enjoy the low-key vibe. Actor Michael J Fox, has been known to call the Vineyard his home, Galavante reported.
The Obamas are pictured walking on the tarmac at Martha’s Vineyard Airport in West Tisbury, Massachusetts August 2016 for their summer vacation
The Obama’s live on a 28-acre property in Edgartown, Massachusetts on Martha’s Vineyard
The year-round population in Martha Vineyard is about 23,000 but during the summer months that number spikes to approximately 200,000.
About 56 percent of the 14,621 homes on the island are seasonally occupied, according to Martha’s Vineyard Commission (MVC), the regional planning agency for Martha’s Vineyard Island and the Elizabeth Islands.
Sheryl Taylor, who works at the high school as a equity and access coordinator, during the year, told the Associated Press, she is forced to ‘couch surf’ with friends during the summer months, because rents are too high.
Taylor has been traveling around with a suitcase in her car bouncing around to different friends homes, despite a large number of vacant homes.
Abelardo Neto, who is a painter, lives in an apartment on Martha’s Vineyard with seven other people. Despite the very tight quarters, she still pays $850 a month in rent.
Olda Deda, who is on a student work visa, and is a native of Albanian has to work three jobs in order to afford her $900 monthly rent.
Deda works at a coffee shop and two restaurants, in order to survive and said she is shocked by the high cost of living – saying it is at least three times higher than she would expect to pay in Europe.
According to the commission’s housing report, there were 40 percent of islanders that earned less than $50,000 a year in 2012.
In 2022, that figure dropped to 23 percent, including the people who were earning an income between $50,000 and $100,000, but those who earned more than $100,000 almost doubled to 46 percent.
Laura Silber, the island housing planner, and author of the report, explained that the ‘shift’ in income is one of the reasons why the island is losing year-round residents.
‘We’re losing our low- and moderate-income families. We’re losing our middle class, because we have no housing,’ she said.
A stock image of some of the charming homes on Martha’s Vineyard
According to the report’s findings, $931 is the average nightly rate among more than 3,000 short-term rentals, while the average home price has more than doubled over the past 11 years to $2.3 million.
Nantucket island, approximately 40 miles away by ferry from Martha’s Vineyard has a median home price home valued at $3.55 million.
Earlier this month, Ed Augustus, the state’s secretary of housing and livable communities, traveled to Martha’s Vineyard to speak to residents.
Augustus explained that during this visit he learned about the working people who are commuting to the island each day.
‘I heard examples of folks who are coming in on the ferry every single day, sometimes from Falmouth, sometimes from further locations on the cape, sometimes from off cape,’ Augustus said.
He added that commuting costs and travel time is making it less desirable for workers to fill the jobs.
A housing bill, first introduced by Democratic Governor Maura Healey, was approved by the state House this month.
The bill has not yet been approved by the Senate, he explained that it will help create and renovate affordable housing.