Nantucket’s Workers Are Living on the Margins
July 11, 2025 by Source: NYT Date Published: 07.11.2025 Article Summary: Nantucket, like many high-end second-home communities, is facing a severe affordability crisis as the island’s housing market booms, leaving its local workforce — teachers, firefighters, public works employees, and hospital staff — struggling to find affordable housing. A majority of properties are owned by seasonal residents or run as short-term rentals, resulting in a lack of supply of year-round rentals. This leaves many essential workers to live in overcrowded conditions, long commutes, or homelessness while also leading to costly high turnover for local businesses and government. Despite efforts like subsidized rentals, housing trust funds, and local programs to support affordable development, housing supply falls far short of demand. And while owners may profess to support affordable housing, they hedge their support on “not here near me. Not there. Not more in this location.” As living costs outpace even six-figure salaries, officials warn that without urgent and substantial reforms Nantucket risks becoming entirely unaffordable for the very workers who keep the island running.