Forum tackles island affordable housing

The Casco Bay Forum met May 11 to discuss affordable housing on the islands in the bay. Representatives from Peaks, Long, Chebeague and Cliff were present, as well as the town of Cumberland. Guests included Garret Martin and Liza Flemming-Ives from the Genesis Community Loan Fund; Alyson Mayo, Island Fellow from Islesboro and Richard Lindgren from Habitat for Humanity. Discussion focused on affordable housing projects currently underway in various communities along the Maine coast. Also addressed were the many challenges facing islands that wish to begin the process of offering affordable housing to residents.

Affordable housing is a major problem on all of the islands. With property values rising steadily, fishermen and other working families struggle to afford housing. Year-round affordable rentals are difficult to come by. Without reasonably-priced housing options, families who have lived in island communities for generations may be forced to move to the mainland, and families who wish to move out to an island find housing their greatest obstacle.

Islands find themselves faced with growing numbers of summer residents and shrinking year-round populations, circumstances that lead to ever-decreasing numbers of school children. That, in turn, threatens the existence of island schools and the community's ability to sustain a year-round population.

The meeting began with Peaks Island resident Gerry Gamon sharing information about the island's new senior housing project. The 12-unit building will officially open in June, following eight years of work. The project was made possible with the help of Volunteers of America. This organization assisted the islanders every step of the way, from site selection and grant acquisition to design and construction. Gamon acknowledged that senior housing is only one piece of the puzzle, but the opening of the housing unit represents a big accomplishment for the island.

Once a community decides to begin an affordable housing project, many questions need to be answered. Who will the target population be? What parameters will guide the application process? Will the housing be for rent or for ownership? If a family moves out of its house, will it remain affordable for the next buyer?

At the meeting, participants discussed these questions at length, with different islands sharing how they had approached various problems and what obstacles arose. Those present agreed that the first step towards affordable housing is to decide, as a community, whom to serve. Once this is established the rest of the questions can be addressed.

Several projects have begun to help island communities address affordable housing issues. At the forum, Alyson Mayo discussed her inter-island affordable housing project. She announced that she would be gathering information on island affordable housing groups in order to put together an island-directed resource manual. She hopes to visit each island to meet with people involved with, or interested in, affordable housing. This will give island residents an opportunity to discuss affordable housing as it relates directly to their individual islands, and to request information on specific resources.

The resource manual will contain profiles of each island's affordable housing situation and initiatives on each island, along with details of housing committees and the specific resources requested by island groups. Copies will be given out to islanders as a tool to provide needed resources and to connect island affordable housing groups so that they can learn from and work with each other.

Mayo also reported that the Maine Islands Coalition Affordable Housing Subcommittee is working on a "State of Island Housing" report. The report will be a brief document that paints a picture of Maine island communities and demonstrates the need for affordable housing on Maine islands. Such a report will help island communities to raise funds from private foundations to support their affordable housing efforts. The subcommittee is collecting data from Maine's year-round islands and updating information from the 2000 Census. The "State of Island Housing" report will be made available to all island affordable housing groups.

The Casco Bay Forum provided an opportunity for communities to share their concerns about affordable housing, and to gather information on the successes of other communities. The pending resource manual and "State of Island Housing" report should help interested islands begin housing projects. Richard Lindgren encouraged island communities who wish to take on the task of addressing affordable housing issues, saying, "there must be 10,000 issues involved in getting affordable housing on your islands, but every one of them can be solved...if you keep the image in front of you, everything will fall into place."