Martha's Vineyard Senior Housing
Welcome to Havenside, a non-profit independent living rental apartment complex for Martha's Vineyard seniors. Most of the units in all four buildings have water views of Vineyard Haven harbor where residents can walk to town, the ferry, the library, and churches.
What is Havenside?
What services does Havenside provide?
The apartments are designed for independent living, and tenants are responsible for arranging any assistance they may require. Through Elder Services or Tisbury Council on Aging, residents and their families can arrange for Medicare/Medicaid-supported home health or nursing services (for those who qualify) or learn about other independent home or health-related services. With so many home-based services for elders available on the island, many Havenside residents are able to extend their years of independent living.
Services provided to all tenants include a full-time manager, 24-hour response to emergency property-related calls, seasonal installation/removal of storm windows/screens on outside doors, removal of rubbish and recyclables, snow removal, grounds and garden maintenance, lawn tables and benches, laundry room in each building, individual locked storage area (as available), keyed mailbox, parking space for car (as available).
One building houses a meeting area attached to the office. Residents can arrange to use this space for activities after office hours. Residents hold a “Social Hour” one afternoon a week.
Who is eligible for Havenside?
Havenside complex for island elders is situated on a sloping hillside overlooking Vineyard Haven harbor. There are twenty-nine apartments in four buildings: twenty four one-bedroom, four two-bedroom, and one studio. Most apartments enjoy a view of the harbor. The property is about three blocks from downtown Vineyard Haven, bordered by Main Street and Crocker Avenue.
How much is the rent? Are utilities extra?
The rent schedule is below. Rents may be adjusted modestly each January 1st according to a Board-established long-range maintenance plan. Havenside is not subsidized by private, church, or government sources, and residents are responsible for full rent.
Tenants are responsible for their own electric, phone, TV cable and internet utilities. Town water and domestic hot water is included in the rent. Heat (which is gas-fired) is provided centrally in each building, but each apartment is zoned. Tenants are billed by Havenside monthly during the heating season based on the meter readings.
Qualified Havenside residents may apply for government rental or fuel assistance programs.
RENT AND HEAT FEE SCHEDULE
Rental rates for 2017
In accordance with its non-profit mission, the Board of Havenside is committed to maintaining the lowest rates that allow for the proper maintenance of the property.
RENT: 2017
1 Bedroom $ 925 1 Bedroom--outside “wings” (C1,C2,D1,D2) $1005 2 Bedroom $1160 Lower-level 1 bedroom/studio $ 775HEAT: Rate per hour of use, according to individual meter readings: $.70 per hour (Heat is billed between October and May.)
What is the application process? How long is the wait list?
Inquiries and applications should be directed to the Havenside Corporation Manager, P.O. Box 1418, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568; telephone 508-693-2280.
Initially, applicants need only submit the “Preliminary Application Form,” which can be downloaded below or obtained from the manager. When received, it will be filed according to date of receipt. Generally speaking, because of the number of applications on file, there will be a significant wait before you are called to interview for an apartment.
Applicants are asked to keep Havenside informed of any changes which would affect their status in the application process.
When the time is approaching that a unit might be available to an applicant, he or she will be asked to provide Havenside with more information about nearby relatives, as well as references and a medical form with a doctor’s verification that the applicant is able to live safely, independently.
When this final application is submitted, we will invite the candidate to sit down with the manager and a Board member to go over all the aspects of living at Havenside, to answer any questions which he or she may still have, and to confirm for both the candidate and Havenside that he or she will be able to live safely and contentedly here, as well as to manage the financial requirements of residency.
When an apartment becomes vacant, necessary renovations are made and during this period applicants are contacted in chronological order, to determine which applicant is prepared to sign the Agreement of Lease, effective on the date the apartment is ready for occupancy. When an applicant is not prepared to occupy an available apartment, his/her place in the chronological order remains the same for the next available unit.
If an apartment is offered for the second time (which could be one month or one year after the first call) and the applicant is not ready to accept, his application will be dated as a new one, and the waiting process will begin again. The Board reserves the right to give consideration to the total circumstances of each applicant and to weigh factors other than the date of application in notifying a person that an apartment is available.
Havenside Endowment Fund
The Love Gift
Approved by the Board of Directors, March 8, 2002
Amended, May 11, 2007
The Havenside Endowment Fund has been created by the Board of Directors of Havenside Corporation with the generous bequest of Havenside’s founder and original benefactor, Margaret Love.
In honor of Margaret Love’s dedication to helping others, the mission of the Havenside Endowment Fund is to preserve, maintain, and improve the Havenside property in perpetuity and to support the expansion of affordable housing for elders on Martha’s Vineyard.
Expending Endowment Fund principal will be considered only upon informing all Board members of this intent at least one week in advance of any meeting. Endowment Fund principal may not be expended for any purpose, unless approved by a two-thirds vote of the Board of Trustees at two consecutive meetings, which must be held at least two weeks apart. Any check written on the Endowment account must bear the signatures of two Board members.
Interest or dividends earned by the Fund will accrue and may be used for the purposes stated in the mission or added to the Fund. The Board will vote to make periodic distributions of these accrued earnings as in the example below. Capital gains will be reinvested.
In response to a need for more elder housing like Havenside, in 2008 the Board undertook an expansion project that added two apartments to the property, as well as new office and meeting space in the “C” building. Income from the Endowment made it possible to complete these additions.
Additional contributions to the Fund are tax-deductible.
Havenside Corporation 145 Main Street P.O. Box 1418 Vineyard Haven, MA 02568
(508) 693-2280 Office / Fax
havenside@verizon.net
Community Social Hour is held at 4 p.m. each Thursday. Weather permitting, the group meets outside in front of the “B” Building. From the cool fall through the cool spring, the gathering is held in the meeting area of the office, in the “C” Building at 3pm.