It began 10 months ago as an idea.

Affordable Housing Initiative Clears Key Hurdles at Ballot Box

By JAMES KINSELLA

Voters in three Vineyard towns yesterday brought the Island a step closer to the creation of a housing bank by backing the initiative and enacting the Community Preservation Act.

Approval of the CPA in Edgartown, Oak Bluffs and West Tisbury provided a crucial step on the road to establishment of a housing bank, which would be modeled on the Martha's Vineyard Land Bank.

Community Preservation Comes Before Taxpayers at Annual Town Meeting

By JAMES KINSELLA
Gazette Senior Writer

Abbe Burt looks at initiatives such as the Community Preservation Act and the Community Housing Bank, and sees important ways of addressing the Vineyard's lack of affordable housing.

Richard Combra, an Oak Bluffs selectman, looks at the same initiatives and sees another tax on Island residents.

Report Conveys Duality in State of Housing Crisis

By James Kinsella
Gazette Senior Writer

Market forces continue to outpace efforts on the Vineyard to create affordable rental and permanent housing.

Further, housing advocates say that while some people who could not find housing in 2001 may have left the Vineyard, those who stayed likely have watched the gap widen between the wages they earn and the houses they hope to buy.

The fight for affordable housing on the Island cannot be won without a serious wad of cash, according to the activists for cheaper housing.