The Martha's Vineyard Times
Coalition seeks to create housing bank
In 2005, one of our local papers ran a story: “The housing bank initiative has cleared its first major regional hurdle, now that all six towns have thrown their support behind the idea, which aims to create a bank of money for affordable housing using a transfer fee on most real estate transactions. The Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank is the model …”
Despite overwhelming support from voters in all six towns and the Vineyard real estate community, the effort failed in the state legislature due to lobbying by the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, which opposed the concept of transfer fees. At the time, the M.V. median home sale price was approximately $500,000.