(Note to readers: While this essay is about Martha’s Vineyard, the island off the coast of Massachusetts, its larger lesson is about income inequality, a real and growing problem. There’s no quick fix, no easy solution. Building affordable, attainable housing is one small but essential step.)

Our Black Lab made the connection, the way dogs always seem to do. Henry went right up to the stranger, wagging his tail, and she began petting him. The child, who looked about 10 years old, was nicely dressed and waiting quietly outside our thrift store, where my wife was inside, searching for treasures. I assumed the little girl was a summer resident, perhaps from Greenwich CT or some other wealthy town and that her mother, like my wife, was also inside browsing. As she was petting our dog, I struck up a conversation based on those (erroneous) assumptions. When I asked her where she lived, she told me they were moving in a few days because the owners were coming to the Island. Before long, I learned that her Mom worked at the thrift store, part-time, to supplement their income, and that her family moved as many as five times every year because they couldn’t afford a home or apartment.

This happened 12 or 13 years ago, but I still remember being shocked, because, to my way of thinking, every child needs and should have a room of their own, a place they can decorate with favorite posters and keep their special stuff, a place they can retreat to.

I told my wife about it, we did some digging, and we were shocked to learn that Martha’s Vineyard had a housing crisis. That’s when we got involved with the Island Housing Trust, a remarkable organization. And while IHT has built homes for several hundred essential workers and their families over the past twenty years, the need is greater than ever. Housing prices on Martha’s Vineyard continue to soar, as off-Islanders bid up prices. The “affordability gap” between what a median income household can afford and the median home price is now a staggering $1.5 million.

Just one year ago about 40% of units were available for year-round rental, but unfortunately more and more units are now being rented to tourists by the week, removing them from the reach of year-round residents. One consequence is housing insecurity at almost all income levels. Fire departments, law enforcement, emergency management, public safety, wastewater treatment, public works departments, town halls, and our public schools struggle to attract and retain employees. For example, our hospital reports that about 20% of staff positions are unfilled because potential hires cannot find housing.

It’s estimated that 40% of year-round Island households are forced to spend excessive amounts on housing, with a majority spending more than half of their income on housing. Perhaps as many as 100 Islanders are homeless, many others have month-to-month leases or are crashing with friends, and lots of essential workers commute daily from the Cape.

Joan and I have been through this before, during the first tech boom in the early 2000’s. We were in its epicenter, Palo Alto, California, and real estate went through the roof. Houses that were listed for, say, $400,000 ended up selling for three times that amount. Apartment rents doubled and tripled, and suddenly some of the men and women whose services kept Palo Alto running smoothly were forced to relocate to cheaper apartments two or more hours away from their workplaces. Some workers even took to sleeping in their cars during the week, parked on Palo Alto’s side streets, to avoid the 4-hour commute.

Palo Alto is not an island, of course, and eventually things settled down. But here on Martha’s Vineyard we are eating our seed corn when we fail to make certain that essential workers can afford to live here.

A partial solution is an Island-wide Housing Bank, into which 2% of every sale price over a certain amount is set aside, money that then becomes available for building affordable, attainable housing. A bill to create a Housing Bank is in front of the Massachusetts Legislature now. You can learn more here, the website of the Coalition to Create the MV Housing Bank.

I’ve often wondered about that young girl, who would now be in her early 20’s. Did she ever have a room of her own? Was she able to grow up here, or was her family forced to leave for the mainland?

It’s too late to help that young girl, but we can help IHT build hundreds more homes for our essential workers. (Or you can work to create a similar organization in your area, or support the one that’s already hard at work.)

When you make a pledge, it’s not simply charity. It’s also in your self-interest, because organizations like IHT that help year-round Islanders achieve the American Dream of a home of their own actually protect your investment in your vacation home and the wonderful lifestyle that Martha’s Vineyard offers you and your family.

This is an island, and, without essential workers, it will eventually grind to a halt. If we fail to invest in affordable, attainable housing, we will be forcing many more essential workers to commute by ferry every day.

Ergo, expect serious limitations on all sorts of essential services.

Or, eventually, no service at all. It’s our choice.