Habitat for Humanity Building Affordable Home in Very Expensive Kennebunkport

The median price of a house in Cape Porpoise is almost a million dollars, a pretty steep price.

If you aren't familiar with Habitat for Humanity, it's a wonderful organization. The York County branch recently announced that they are building two affordable homes in a very unaffordable town - Cape Porpoise. The average price for a home in Cape Porpoise, Kennebunkport last year was $900,000. That's about half a million dollars higher than the rest of York County. The house being built is a three-bedroom home and the application process is open right now for the first home.

I helped build a home for Habitat for Humanity about 25 years ago in Portland on Mayo Street at the bottom of Munjoy Hill. It was a wonderful experience. What HFH does is find local, low-income families who are looking for safe, affordable housing. It's not a free house. They not only pay a mortgage but help in building the home too, or other homes for Habitat. The way Habitat can afford to do this is that it's all donated materials and volunteer labor and yes, a ton of fundraising. The mortgage that Habitat homeowners pay goes back into building other homes! It's a wonderful cycle.

According to MaineBiz, you are eligible if you are a family living or working in York County with annual incomes between 30% to 60% of the area median income.

This is welcome news for Maine with record-breaking home sales in both volume and price. They are planning on breaking ground this summer for the second home to be built on land that was donated.

The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. - Maya Angelou