VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. (AP) — Sheryl Taylor works as an administrator for Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School. Each summer, she has to leave the island or stay with friends because she can’t afford the high seasonal rents.
How high? The average vacation home rents for $6,500 a week.
“I have spent a significant amount of time couch surfing,” said Taylor, the school’s equity and access coordinator. “With my suitcase in my car, and moving one or two nights here and there with friends on the island.”
Taylor’s plight reflects that of many on the Massachusetts island off Cape Cod. There are plenty of jobs, but restaurants and stores often can’t find enough staff because workers can’t afford to live there. Officials worry public safety is being compromised because they can’t retain or lure correctional officers or 911 dispatchers.
Landlords stand to make far more money from short-term tourists than from year-round residents. Meanwhile, many island homes remain almost permanently vacant, their wealthy owners uninterested in renting them out between fleeting visits.
People walk dogs in front of homes, Tuesday, June 4, 2024, in Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts. High housing costs on Martha’s Vineyard are forcing many regular workers to leave and are threatening public safety. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)
A new report lays out in stark terms just how many low- and middle-income folks are being forced to move away from Martha’s Vineyard as its popularity with wealthy vacationers soars, causing the year-round population of 20,000 to swell up to tenfold over summer.
In 2012, 40% of islanders earned less than $50,000 a year, the Martha’s Vineyard Commission housing report found. Ten years later, the figure had dropped to 23%. The proportion of people earning between $50,000 and $100,000 also fell over that time, while those earning more than $100,000 almost doubled to 46%.
“So we’ve had a shift in our income distribution. This speaks to the fact that we’re losing year-round residents,” said Laura Silber, the island housing planner who wrote the report. “We’re losing our low- and moderate-income families. We’re losing our middle class, because we have no housing.”
The report shows the average nightly rate among more than 3,000 short-term rentals is $931. And the average home price has more than doubled over the past 11 years to $2.3 million. Nearby Nantucket island is even more extreme, with the median home price reaching $3.55 million.
Dukes County Sheriff Robert Ogden said the cost of housing has become a public safety issue on Martha’s Vineyard, with his agency unable to maintain the 11 or so 911 operators it needs to provide lifesaving information over the phone, such as CPR instructions. Operators who stay often get burned out from working too much overtime, he said.
A home sits on a freshly mowed lawn in Edgartown, Mass., Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)
“It’s a vicious cycle,” Ogden said.