For countless Island businesses, providing employee housing has become a cost of doing business.

Green Villa, a proposed 100-apartment affordable housing complex in Oak Bluffs, needs to bring more details to Island planners before it can start a full public review.

The massive housing bill passed Tuesday includes policies that explicitly give the Vineyard new ways to develop housing, allow accessory dwelling units by right in certain areas and make special allowances for towns with fluctuating populations. 

Smaller in scope than other local groups, and relying largely on private donations rather than public funding, Habitat for Humanity focuses on building single-family homes for private ownership.

Vineyard housing advocates are urging the state Senate to reinsert the long-sought transfer fee tax to chip away at the Island's housing crisis.