Deja vu: Report finds demand for housing outpaces supply
Avesta Housing
A Portland-based affordable housing provider has released its 2015 Affordable Housing Activity Report, which concludes that despite a 9% increase in providing affordable housing from 2014 there is growing discrepancy between the affordable housing that’s available and the high demand in both southern Maine and New Hampshire.
Avesta Housing announced in its report that 3,348 people in both southern Maine and New Hampshire applied for affordable housing through the nonprofit last year, but it was only able to accommodate 434 of the requests due to the limited number of income-based units available and low turnover in existing units.
As of the end of December, 2,248 applicants remained on Avesta’s waiting list for affordable housing, with the majority of applicants over the age of 55. That’s 163 more senior applicants than in 2014, with applicants between the ages of 35 and 54 coming in a close second.
“The level of unmet need for a safe, affordable place to live is higher than we have ever seen,” Dana Totman, president of Avesta, said in the report. “The time is now to create affordable housing, especially for our seniors, at a much faster pace.”
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