Housing

The challenge

Isle au Haut, like many other islands and rural communities, is facing a shortage of year-round affordable housing. In the past few years, a number of people have been forced to move off the island or are living in housing situations that do not fit their needs. This has an impact on the year-round community by decreasing enrollment in the school and even results in a labor shortage with workers commuting daily from Deer Isle to work on contracting projects. The current year-round housing stock is inadequate to meet the needs of the community and there is concern over year-round homes being put on the market and sold as seasonal homes.

The barriers to building year-round affordable housing include high cost of building and materials, lack of buildable land, lack of property management services, and uncertainty about what type of housing to build (i.e. for workforce or families).

Major issues with housing

Lack of buildable land
Challenges of property management
Lack of rentals
Lack of workforce housing
Uncertainty about what kind of housing to build (i.e. do we target families, workers, young people, etc.)
High cost of building and developing infrastructure on the island
Year-round homes being sold as seasonal homes

Town of Isle au Haut zoning map, including the Affordable Housing Overlay Zones (shaded purple) where minimum lot size is reduced to 1 acre.

Project Description

Develop and identify a plan to help resolve some of the housing issues on Isle au Haut.

Timeline

---->October-December: Interview year-round community members
---->December-January: Bring together major findings from the interviews and further define the problem. Brainstorm possible solutions.
---->Ongoing: Research what other communities are doing to address the affordable housing issue
---->February-March: Present case studies/report interview findings to the community. Conduct research on feasibility and cost comparisons between the different options.
---->April-May: Gather input from the year-round community. Conduct a housing needs survey.
---->Summer 2019: Choose a project to pilot and move forward with a full feasibility study

Goals (first year)

Interview at least 30 people, including island residents, former residents, and people who are hoping to move here
Produce a report showing the key needs and insights gained from interviews
Hold at least one community brainstorming session where residents generate ideas based on needs identified in interviews

The Team

In order to create effective solutions to the housing problem, we are going to need to build a coalition of individuals and groups that are interested in working on this issue. This includes: the housing committee, made up of year-round and seasonal residents of IaH, the ICDC, the Genesis Fund, Habitat for Humanity, and members of other island housing groups. Together we can bring together knowledge and experience to gain an understanding of what will work best for our community.

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