It doesn’t come as a shock that Nantucket’s most abundant natural resource is water—after all, we are surrounded by it. On the opposite side of the spectrum, one of the island’s most limited resources is housing. But what if we utilized our biggest strength to counterbalance our biggest weakness?

Given the cost and shortage of land on Nantucket and the abundance of salty H2O, Nantucket could do what other desperate housing-starved communities have already done, which is to provide floating apartment buildings.

Imagine several hundred housing units located off the jetty, where low-cost living and unlimited water views connect. When seasonal demand is at its peak, the ship would arrive, and by early October, the floating apartment building could pull up anchor and head to another port.

While this idea may not hold water, it gives the word “liquidity” as a real estate investment new meaning. The idea would require no infrastructure improvements, presumably no zoning or Historic District Commission approval and no construction lead times. Additionally, the ability to modulate housing needs with peak demand periods would be unlike any other housing solutions available to the island and would also avoid burdening the school system as it would be designed simply for summer workforce housing requirements.

Yachtworld.com boat broker Captain Ken Caine, among others, has been marketing surplus cruise ships and similar vessels to other markets around the globe. “Right now, we get maybe 10 requests a week for accommodation vessels from around the world,” Caine explains. “There’s housing problems in every major city. It’s not only here in the United States: every city is trying to solve this problem.”

But like many new-wave ideas, accommodation vessels don’t come without their own set of problems. For one, Caine says that it can often become a political issue, painting mayors in a negative light as it emphasizes the housing crisis in their city. Another problem lies within hooking the ships up to electricity/shore power. If there aren’t specific hookups available at the location, the vessels have to rely on generators.

Regardless, the first step for anyone interested in the accommodation vessels is to call the local port authority, no matter the country. Caine adds, “A lot of times when they want to dock a vessel, the local inhabitants don't want it there because depending upon who it is, they don’t want strangers roaming around in their area. … They don’t want an unsightly ship sitting there.” In all, the boats are a temporary solution until more permanent housing is built.

But even if an accommodation vessel wasn’t our perfect answer, it begs the need for Nantucket to start thinking about creative ways to launch new ideas to solve a vexing problem for the island. Accommodation vessels are not a perfect solution, particularly for a high-end destination like Nantucket, but they can address a deepening problem for housing-starved communities. While unconventional and controversial, ideas that could stem the tide of high rents for an island like Nantucket may hold water.