The volunteer-powered Houses of Grace winter shelter system has opened for its third season. “If I didn’t have this, I’d be sleeping around a fire, bundled up,” said Derek MacLeod.

Hospitality Homes, a system of homeless shelters hosted and organized by Island churches, is nearing the end of its first year, with administrators, coordinators and volunteers declaring success.

Beginning in January, seven nights a week, three churches will provide shelter and meals to men, women and families who need a place to get in out of the cold.

Once again, the rural scholars program visited the Vineyard to study a pressing Island issue. This year's topic was homelessness and the housing shortage.

A conversation Thursday about homelessness on Martha’s Vineyard shed light on the gravity of the Island’s housing shortage, and introduced a new initiative by Island churches set to begin next winter to provide emergency housing for those without a home.

Last Wednesday night, when the temperature dropped to 22 degrees on Martha’s Vineyard, more than a dozen people were homeless. A team of volunteers canvassed the Island as part of the annual point-in-time homeless count.