Island woman finds stability after years of housing woes
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER

PHOTO BY ROB BENCHLEY Fernella Phillips sits on the front porch of her home in the Abrem Quary development. She is joined by her 9-year-old grandson Keenen, left, and her 11-year-old son Fervon

Fernella Phillips had more than her share of worries when it came to finding housing on Nantucket, but finally her life has turned around and she is at peace.

Last December she qualified to enter a lottery held by the developer of the Abrem Quary sub-division off Folger Avenue and became one of five lowincome applicants to obtain an affordable, 30-year mortgage on a three-bedroom home with living and dining rooms, a spacious kitchen, a laundry room, a full basement and a nice yard where she is growing flowers and tomatoes.

"I feel like a queen," said Phillips, whose son Fervon, 11, and a 19- year-old nephew live with her. "I didn't expect it. Every time I wake up I thank the Lord. I am so happy that some day I'll have something that will be mine. And if the Lord takes me tomorrow I have a place for my children so they don't have to do the shuffle. I'm very blessed for having been able to get in the lottery."

But Phillips' good fortune did not come until after she spent years in the struggle that often accompanies the search for decent, reasonably priced housing here. Phillips, who for the last eight years has worked in the kitchen at Our Island Home, moved to the island in 1988. Before her current job she was a housekeeper at The Harbor House for 15 years and moved a few times. In 2000 she was renting a place on Bailey Road, and while she was at work it caught fire and she lost everything she owned, including rent money she had set aside in a book. That was the beginning of a particularly tough period for Phillips, who is mother to four children.

"I moved from place to place. It was the Nantucket shuffle — sleep here, sleep there. I slept in my car. My kids were separated from me. I slept on people's couches. My daughter took my youngest son to live with her in Florida," she explained. "Most places I looked at didn't want children. I had no other place to go, and at that time I couldn't afford rent by myself. At night I couldn't sleep. I was crying. I didn't know where to go or who to turn to."

Finally, Phillips was able to move up on the waiting list for low-income housing in Miacomet Village, and she lived there for four years until she won the Abrem Quary lottery.

Phillips feels secure and content now in her home, but she has not forgotten what she endured to get where she is today and sympathizes with everyone who is still facing the island's expensive and limited rental market.

"It's hard and getting harder," she said. "You've got to keep your head up, keep the faith and pray, and you will make your way. I've been through it." I