Who Are We & What Do We Do?
What Is Affordable Housing?
Housing is considered affordable when total housing costs, rent or mortgage plus taxes and basic utilities, are no more than 30% of a household's gross income. However for many households, regardless of income, housing costs often go as high as 40-50% of gross income.
Standards of affordability, as defined by HUD, start at 80% of the area's median income. HUD assumes that those at 100% or above can afford, and are served by market rate rents. For more information about the Island's median income and market rates, please visit www.vineyardhousing.org.
However, year-round residents on Martha's Vineyard face unique challenges for rental opportunities or home ownership. In today's market, there is nothing a median-income renter can buy on the Island. Even a year-round family earning $66,100 would find nothing to purchase without the equity from an existing home. Because there is a significant affordability gap for housing for year-round Island residents (both rentals and homeownership), our work at the Island Affordable Housing Fund is crucial for maintaining a vibrant, year-round community.
What Is the Island Affordable Housing Fund?
Formed in 1998, the Island Affordable Housing Fund (IAHF) provides grants and loans to organizations, towns, developers, builders, or anyone with a proposal to create affordable year-round housing opportunities that satisfies our criteria. The Fund is also a catalyst and facilitator, providing funding to a whole host of projects that provide affordable housing opportunities to Island residents. Our work is designed to diminish or erase the affordability gap between what it costs to create housing and what year-round residents can afford to pay for housing.
