Affluent island getaway where Obamas enjoy $12M mansion faces a housing crisis so bad it is 'threatening public safety' By Ruth Bashinsky For Dailymail.Com and Associated Press Published: 06:49, 25 June 2024 | Updated: 08:31, 25 June 2024 e-mail View comments The affluent U.S.
island beloved by the Obamas - and favored in summer by hordes of the rich and famous - is facing a housing shortage that has got so severe it is 'threatening public safety' for its residents. Staggering seasonal rents - averaging nearly $1,000 a night - are forcing regular workers, including restaurant, store employees, doctors, correctional officers and 911 dispatchers, to flee their jobs on Martha's Vineyard, amid the lack of affordable housing, jeopardizing the town's public's safety, officials said. Sheriff Robert Ogden of Dukes County said the cost of housing has gotten so bad, he now considers it a public safety issue on the island.
Ogden said his department, which oversees 11 islands including Martha's Vineyard, has a staffing need of 11 emergency operators who provide lifesaving 911 instructions and relay to responders by phone - including CPR instructions. A home in the quaint New England colony just south of Cape Cod can run upwards of $6,500 for a week stay, particularly during the peak summer months. And the mounting problem is that many landlords are more interested in cashing-in on these short-term visitors in place of their year-round working residents.
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