Dozens of rooms avaliable on AirBnb in Martha’s Vineyard amid claims of a ‘housing crisis’ on island
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Dozens of modest properties and homes are available for rent on AirBnb on Martha’s Vineyard, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Private rooms and small guest houses are offered for $180 a night, which could have been used as a stopover for the migrants to be housed.
Lisa Belcastro, the island’s homelessness director, made the sensational claim yesterday that the affluent area is experiencing a ‘housing crisis’.
Speaking after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis sent two planeloads of migrants to the pretty coastal town, Belcastro claimed the island cannot support the addition of 50 more people.
Belcastro, who himself lives in a lavish four-bedroom, four-bathroom house on a remote part of the island, is one of the liberal officials who called it a “humanitarian emergency” and responded as they would respond to a hurricane.
Her claims were supported by Governor Charlie Baker, who said Martha’s Vineyard, with a population of 15,000, “is not equipped to provide sustainable housing” to the migrants.
Earlier today, he announced plans to cross the illegal immigrants to the mainland to the military Joint Base in Cape Cod – 52 miles away.
Lisa Belcastro claims the island suffers from a shortage of affordable housing, with an average home price of about $1 million. She told reporters they’ll have to ‘go elsewhere at some point’ as the island is facing a ‘housing crisis’
The 50 migrants who arrived at Martha’s Vineyard will now be shipped on Friday for a 32-mile journey to a military base in Cape Cod.
The average home in Martha’s Vineyard is worth nearly $800,000 according to the census, and the median household income is $77,370 — well above the national average of $67,521.
Properties available on the website range from $180 per night to $10,000 for more opulent multi-million dollar homes.
They could be used to house the migrants, but clearly they would not fall into the ‘affordable housing’ category.
The Island Housing Trust has also set up a system for one-, two- and three-bedroom single-family homes in the area – with housing available in at least 14 blocks.
It’s unclear if it was an option to use the homes, which sell for between $150,000 and $300,000 to households earning between $35,000 and $100,000.
Martha’s Vineyard also has a rental assistance program, which runs through the six island towns, for residents with average incomes less than 80 percent of the area.
Belcastro, who himself lives in a lavish four-bedroom, four-bathroom, $3.6 million dollar property on a remote part of the island, is one of the Liberal officials who declared it a “humanitarian emergency.”
The JBCC shared-use base where the migrants are now being taken is home to five military commandos training for missions at home and abroad, and was used as a hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic
DeSantis yesterday sent two planes carrying 50 migrants to the affluent island and now threatens to send more to Delaware – following Texas Gov Greg Abbott’s ‘blueprint’
Residents also seemed to turn on each other and scold their neighbors for not allowing the migrants access to their “summer rentals.”
One resident wrote on social media that immigration authorities are supposed to “take them off the island for processing so they’re no longer in our backyard.”
Others continued to complain about the housing problems, writing: ‘The Vineyard has an acute housing crisis. Everyone has to work together’.
Some residents found themselves in the line of fire for asking for new locks to be put on their property shortly after the migrants landed.
Lisa Belcastro did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by DailyMail.com.
Nearly 1,000 migrants have been released to sleep on the streets of the Texas border town of El Paso, amid a wave of illegal border crossings that overwhelms border police facilities.
Florida Governor DeSantis is now ramping up the escalating immigration war in Democrat-controlled areas by threatening to fly illegal migrants to President Biden’s home state of Delaware.
Properties available on the website range from $180 per night to $10,000 for more opulent multi-million dollar homes. They could be used to house the migrants but clearly they would not fall into the ‘affordable housing’ category
The author himself lives in a $3.6 million property that features a pool and four bedrooms and baths in a secluded part of the island.
Republicans have stepped up their attacks on the Biden administration as they try to make immigration the theme of November’s midterm elections.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre targeted DeSantis and Abbott in a news conference today, urging other Republicans who disagree with their “blueprint” to “speak.”
She said: “This is an issue and we have been clear about this, this is an inhumane issue, it is abhorrent and we should not use people, migrants, who are fleeing communism, as political pawns.”
DaSantis accused critics of his attempt to fly migrants to Martha’s Vineyard of “virtue signaling,” saying their concern for the well-being of the migrants was a “fraud.”
He said, “The minute even a small fraction of what those border towns go through every day is brought to their doorsteps, they go crazy and are so upset that this is happening.”
It comes after Governor Greg Abbott yesterday sent 101 illegal migrants outside VP Kalama Harris’ home in Washington DC — just days after declaring the border “secure.”
The migrants were told to board buses for an hour and a half journey from the island to the military base in Cape Cod, where they will be given dormitory-style shelter.
Harris declared the border “secure” in an interview on Sunday and is now in the midst of an attack by Governor Greg Abbott against Democrats’ immigration rules.
She declined to answer questions about the sensational escalation yesterday as Abbott continues his campaign against so-called “sanctuary cities.”
An unidentified man filmed outside the Naval Observatory on Thursday told Fox News: “The border is open, not closed. Everyone believes the border is open.
“It’s open because we’re coming in. We come in for free, no problem. We came illegally, not legally.’
VP Harris remained silent on the matter when she entered the Naval Observatory on Friday after refusing to answer questions about the matter on Thursday.
But her husband Doug Emhoff said, “I do have a reaction. I think it was a shame. These are people. These are people.
“They were supposed to be treated with dignity, kindness and respect and they weren’t.
“And we have so-called leaders in this country who, instead of focusing on what’s good for the public in their own state, are using people as pawns for a political stunt.”