Not in My (Second) Backyard: Nantucket’s Worker Housing Fight Reveals the Cost of Vacation Homes

In April, the Nantucket Planning Board approved three workforce housing dormitories across the island in an effort to provide housing for employees of two local companies—but it was not without controversy.“It is such a major impact on this neighborhood,” board member Joe Topham said of one proposal. “I just really have a problem with the number of people that would be within this dwelling.”The project in question would allow an existing single-family home on Waydale Road to be used as workforce housing for up to 16 people—a practical midisland location for workers, but one neighbors worried would bring too much intensity to a residential street.“I am for housing, we need it for employees, but I really have a problem with just the way this property is being laid out and being utilized, and it’s just a lot on the neighborhood,” Topham said.It’s the kind of argument echoed in city and town halls across the country: We need more housing—just not here. But on Nantucket, “not here” carries an unusually high cost. Even as the island remains a popular summer getaway, it’s struggling to house the workers necessary to keep it running.‘We don’t have an operational town’The island's year-roun...