The dictionary entry for NIMBY (/nim-bee/ noun, acronym,) ought to be updated to reflect the latest battle between the workforce and the wealthy on Nantucket.

As the Globe’s David Abel recently reported, David Long, the CEO of Liberty Mutual, staunchly opposed a workforce housing project near his vacation home in Nantucket. For the past year, the Miacomet Golf Course, the only 18-hole course open to the public on the island, has tried to build a dormitory that would have housed up to 22 of its seasonal workers.

The only problem? The one-story, 3,900-square-foot dormitory would be built about 350 feet from “Summer Wind,’’ Long’s six-bedroom home, valued at $2.3 million.

It’s a classic tale that exposes the acute housing crisis on Nantucket — and an egregious example of government kowtowing to the whims of the rich.

Long’s opposition to the project effectively killed the plan for now, with assistance from the Baker administration. The golf course is owned by the Nantucket Land Bank, a public agency whose charter requires approval from the state before building. Matthew Beaton, the state’s secretary of energy and environmental affairs, ignored for months the Land Bank’s attempts to seek approval for the plan. Meanwhile, he was also getting letters from Long’s high-profile lawyer arguing that the Land Bank wasn’t authorized to build housing. “Building this facility is not in the interests of conservation. Period,’’ the lawyer, Bob Popeo, told the Globe.

In fact, the opposite is true. Building workforce housing is entirely aligned with the purpose of the Land Bank, which is “statutorily obligated to provide for the continuing construction, operation, and maintenance’’ of the golf course. In what world does the maintenance of land, which has to be performed by workers, have nothing to do with the conservation of such land?

The affordable housing shortage has caused some potentially dangerous living situations in Nantucket, one of two places in Massachusetts that recenty made the top 10 list of the country’s best summer vacation destinations. It’s not uncommon to see two or three families turning the basement of a house into cramped living quarters, with sheets serving as makeshift walls; people routinely sleeping on garage floors; and families that have been fractured because parents live in one place and their children in another.

“Some people would be shocked to see these living conditions happening in Nantucket,’’ said Tucker Holland, the town’s housing specialist, who witnesses firsthand what seasonal workers have to endure. Nearly half of the island is off-limits to developers. Holland said that the crisis is even affecting year-round workers. “Six police officers are leaving the force over housing issues,’’ he said. Only 2.5 percent of the island’s housing stock is considered affordable under state standards.

A bill pending on Beacon Hill would ameliorate the island’s housing crunch. It would let Nantucket charge a 0.5 percent real estate transfer fee on real estate sales of over $2 million. The money would go toward creating affordable housing; the bill has near unanimous support from Nantucket officials, residents, and even its real estate brokers association. The Legislature — and Governor Baker, whose administration’s decision to truckle to Long has only exacerbated the crisis — should get behind it now.