HOUSING CRISIS

A recent survey suggests that one in four town employees lives with an “extreme” housing cost burden, meaning that more than 50 percent of their gross income goes toward keeping a roof over their heads. The cost of housing on island has become so out of reach for most people that it’s a large part of the reason almost 100 town positions remain unfilled, from teachers to firemen to DPW personnel.

Nantucket Cottage Hospital has another 35 vacancies, give or take. None of this includes the dearth of plumbers, storekeepers, carpenters, restaurant workers, airport personnel, non-profit staff, and other year-rounders who are needed to keep Nantucket vibrant and sustainable.

The median list price of a home on island as of June 2023  hovered around $5 million. With a downpayment of $1 million, that amount would require an annual salary of about $900,000 to qualify for a mortgage. The salary of a teacher, police officer, or fireman on island: roughly between $70,000 and $110,000.

A number of organizations have stepped up to address the crisis, including the Town on Nantucket’s Affordable Housing Trust (which has recently had significant buy-in from islanders as a whole at Town Meeting for significant funding), Habitat for Humanity, nonprofit Housing Nantucket, the Nantucket Housing Authority and the Community Foundation for Nantucket. But all the good work they do is still not enough on its own to solve this island-wide problem.

That’s why the nonprofit Nantucket Land Trust is being formed. It tackles the issue by not building new housing — a less and less viable option as developable land shrinks — but making existing homes attainable for people who support the island’s infrastructure. How this will work is to set aside housing stock for year-rounders in perpetuity.