Affluent island getaway where Obamas enjoy $12M mansion faces a housing crisis so bad it is ‘threatening public safety’

The prosperous American island, beloved of the Obamas – and a summer favorite of hordes of the rich and famous – is facing a housing shortage that has become so severe that it “threatens” “public safety” for its residents.

Staggering seasonal rental prices — an average of nearly $1,000 per night — are forcing regular workers, including restaurant workers, retail workers, doctors, correctional officers and emergency dispatchers, to flee their jobs on Martha’s Vineyard amid the lack of affordable housing. This puts the safety of the public in the city at risk, officials said.

Dukes County Sheriff Robert Ogden said The cost of housing has gotten so bad that 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 requirement of 11 emergency responders who provide and relay life-saving 911 instructions to responders over the phone, including CPR instructions.

A home in the scenic New England Colony just south of Cape Cod can cost more than $6,500 for a week’s stay, especially during the summer months. And the growing problem is that many landlords are more interested in cashing in on these short-term visitors rather than year-round working residents.

Keeping these numbers up is a challenge because operators often work long hours and are burned out from too much overtime, he said.

Ogden said he has been working for the past six years to impose a local home sales tax to help pay for affordable housing on the island, but said that would still require new state legislation.

He called it ‘a vicious circle.’

“Every year we lose two to three coordinators, not only because of the high cost of living here, but also because of the insecurity of housing,” he said.

He said a correctional officer, who is trained, had to take cleaning jobs so she wouldn’t make too much and lose her access to low-income housing.

“Can you imagine in any society saying I’m paying someone too much to keep working?” 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, Houses and gardens reported.

Celebrities who have visited the island over the years include Reese Witherspoon, Bill Murray, Meg Ryan and the late Princess Diana, enjoying the tranquil atmosphere. Actor Michael J Fox is known to call the Vineyard his home, Galavante reported.

The year-round population in Martha Vineyard is about 23,000, but during the summer months that number increases to about 200,000.

About 56 percent of the island’s 14,621 homes are occupied according to seasonal occupancy Martha’s Vineyard Committee (MVC), the regional planning agency for Martha’s Vineyard Island and the Elizabeth Islands.

Sheryl Taylor, who works at the high school during the year as an equity and access coordinator, shared Associated pressshe is forced to ‘couch surf’ with friends during the summer months because the rents are too high.

Taylor travels around with a suitcase in her car bouncing around to various friends’ houses, despite a large number of vacant houses.

Abelardo Neto, a painter, lives with seven other people in an apartment on Martha’s Vineyard. Despite the very cramped conditions, she still pays $850 a month in rent.

Olda Deda, who has a student work visa and is of Albanian descent, has to work three jobs to pay her $900 monthly rent.

Deda works in a coffee shop and two restaurants to survive and said she is shocked by the high cost of living – which she said is at least three times as high than she would expect to pay in Europe.

According to the commission’s housing report, 40 percent of islanders earned less than $50,000 a year in 2012.

In 2022, that figure dropped to 23 percent, including people earning between $50,000 and $100,000, but those earning morea $100,000 nearly doubled to 46 percent.

Laura Silber, the island’s housing planner and author of the report, explained that the “shift” in income is one of the reasons the island is losing residents year-round.

“We are losing our low- and middle-income families. We are losing our middle class because we don’t have housing,” she said.

According to the report’s findings, $931 is the average nightly rate for more than 3,000 short-term rental properties, while the average home price has more than doubled over the past eleven years to $2.3 million.

The island of Nantucket, about 40 miles by ferry from Martha’s Vineyard, has a median home price of $3.55 million.

Earlier this month, Ed Augustus, the state secretary of Housing and Livable Communities, traveled to Martha’s Vineyard to speak with residents.

Augustus explained that during this visit he met the working people who travel to the island every day.

“I’ve heard examples of people coming by ferry every day, sometimes from Falmouth, sometimes from further afield on the Cape, sometimes from outside the Cape,” Augustus said.

He added that the cost of commuting and travel time makes it less desirable for workers to fill the jobs.

A housing bill, first introduced by Democratic Gov. 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.