NO ONE TALKS TO THE TOWNIES:

Beyond the spotlight, many islanders bristled at the suggestion -- circulated in conservative media -- that they had quickly turned their backs on the migrants, mostly Venezuelans, who arrived unannounced Sept. 14 and were transferred to temporary housing on Cape Cod two days later. The opposite occurred; locals immediately mobilized to help.

"I was frustrated because a lot of people were saying things that weren't true, that we're just white, rich people here and have no diversity. People don't see our struggles," said Maura Morrison, case manager for Harbor Homes of Martha's Vineyard, an umbrella organization for the island's homeless prevention programs.

It's a struggle that Morrison, a single mother with two children, can relate to personally: She cannot afford to buy a home on the island where she was born and raised. Although the Vineyard's population grew by 24 percent from 2010 to 2020, its housing stock increased by only 2 percent.

In addition, the Vineyard's average weekly wage of $1,094 in 2020 was 70 percent of the state average, and its median home price -- now approaching $1.3 million -- was more than double the state's, according to an assessment of the island's housing needs.

"We have people living in the woods who call me all the time looking for shelter," said Morrison, who also serves as the Dukes County homeless prevention coordinator.

Exacerbating the problem has been an increase in summer rentals listed on websites such as AirBnb, housing advocates said. These transactions have been lucrative enough to prompt some homeowners to take their properties off the market during the colder months, further shrinking the pool of available rentals.

And as the wealth gap widens on the Vineyard, racial and ethnic diversity also is increasing.

Nearly a quarter of the year-round population is now multiracial, according to the latest census.

The island's year-round Black population also increased during that time, jumping 67 percent to 798 people in 2020 from 477 people in 2010, nearly three times the growth rate of white residents. And in the summer, when the island's population can soar to 200,000, throngs of Black families continue to vacation here, as they have for decades.

The Vineyard's schools also are a barometer of change.

The number of public school students receiving help with English has more than doubled since 2016, to 472 students in 2021 from 210 six years ago, according to information provided by Dukes County manager Martina Thornton. A total of 94 percent of those pupils hear Portuguese in the home, a reflection of the island's burgeoning Brazilian community.

Morrison was startled by the changes she saw three years ago when she returned to live on the Vineyard.

"When I was in school, I could count on my hand about five African Americans and a small handful of Brazilians in the whole high school," Morrison said.

The growing diversity reflects a much different Vineyard than the image concocted by some on the national stage. 

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