New Affordable Housing Village in Wells Built for Working Class Mainers
Maine Housing Crisis
It’s no breaking news that we are living through a housing crisis. Homes that were once an affordable and average cost are now going up for triple the price and when an affordable home does go on the market, someone from out of state pulls up with a wad of cash and offers well beyond the asking price.
This plays into our current worker shortage, as people are not going to work where they can’t afford to live. Portland is seeing prices comparable to Boston, New York, and Miami while not adjusting incomes to meet families’ needs of sustaining a life in our state.
High Pines Village in Wells, Maine
For this very reason, developer Howard Hall has created a new development, High Pines Village in Wells designed specifically for the working class in Maine.
The solutions are obvious, build and sell houses Mainers can afford, but few people are willing to go into a business where they won’t make a significant profit. That’s what makes this project so special and different. Hall shared with WGME stating that this affordable housing village is only possible because he’s not making a profit.
Affordable Housing in Maine
The new development features 120 affordable single-family homes made exclusively for families earning $61,000 to $120,000 per year, as the WGME article explains. The houses are two- and three-bedroom homes with full kitchens, two bathrooms, and heat and air conditioning, with the point of creating housing in a comfortable home rather than an apartment.
As Hall shared, the homes are selling for $237-250K which is $200K below the appraised value. The article stated that if buyers do want to sell their homes, they will only be able to make a small profit in order to keep the homes affordable for the next families.
This is the type of real estate news I want to see on my timeline! I’m tired of these luxury condos popping up around the state and single-family homes selling for more than a working Mainer can afford.
We need to take care of each other and create a safe and sustainable state for locals to raise their families, work their jobs, and not break the bank. This is how we do this.