🔒Islands in the mainstream: Affordable housing key to sustainable island populations

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An influx of new families on Great Cranberry Island promises hope for a sustainable year-round community.

Their move here was made possible by the development of affordable housing in a real estate market that is otherwise outpriced for moderate incomes.

“Great Cranberry is on a roll in terms of revitalizing this community,” says Phil Whitney, president of the nonprofit Cranberry Isles Realty Trust (CIRT), which developed and owns five affordable rental units. “We had 53 year-round residents here this winter, up from 48 the previous winter. If things hold, this coming winter we'll be up over 60. Those are small numbers, but they make a big difference.”

Great Cranberry is one of seven islands that shared a 2010 allotment of $2.7 million earmarked by the state for affordable, energy-efficient new construction, renovation and replacement housing.

The effort was driven by rising housing costs, says Rob Snyder, president of the Rockland-based Island Institute, which was part of a coalition advocating for the fund. Not long before, the Island Institute had urged the state to allocate more funding to preserve Maine's working waterfront.

“The same pressures driving the loss of working waterfront were driving the loss of affordable workforce housing — rising valuation, and the fact that median family income on an island could afford only a portion of the average price of a home back then,” says Snyder. Island housing prices flattened after 2008, but remained high, he says.

“Many island communities feel they have a crisis in terms of affordable housing,” says Liza Fleming-Ives, deputy director of the Genesis Community Loan Fund, a Brunswick-based nonprofit working with island groups on issues of senior housing, affordable housing and preservation of community facilities.

According to Genesis, since the early 1900s, the number of islands with year-round populations has diminished from 300 to 14. Escalating property values, a scarcity of affordable housing, a lack of jobs and concerns about schools are all factors that erode year-round island communities.

Islands have been tackling these problems for some time now.

In the 1980s, the nonprofit Frenchboro Future Development Corp. received federal funding and a donation of 35 acres. The nonprofit built seven rental houses and developed five lots designated for affordable house construction. In the 1990s, the Isle au Haut Community Development Corp. built three affordable rental homes. Since 2002, the Monhegan Island Sustainable Community Association, among its initiatives, has developed five homes and converted two apartments into affordable condos for year-round residents. Islesboro, Peaks Island, Vinalhaven, Chebeague and North Haven have obtained funding and assistance from a variety of coastal organizations to develop affordable housing options. Some target seniors, while others aim to attract young families to bolster island populations.

In 2009, Genesis, the Island Institute, and the Southern Maine Affordable Housing Coalition (later the statewide Maine Affordable Housing Coalition) partnered to advocate for the bond fund, with money for islands, and worked with the Maine State Housing Authority to develop the design of the program and construction standards that included high energy efficiency.

Over the past decade, according to MAHC, the cost of purchasing a home statewide has been well out of the range for Mainers with modest incomes. According to their latest statistics, in 2008, a median-priced home was $180,000. The income needed to purchase the home was $61,714, but median household income was $47,000.

Since state funding was issued in 2010, 18 units have been developed on North Haven, Islesboro, Chebeague, Peaks, Isle au Haut and Vinalhaven, with Great Cranberry the final project to be completed. The grants included a 20% local match, met largely through cash donations and private and town donations of land. Most of the initiatives had funding gaps in construction costs, between $60,000 and $80,000 after the grants and local matches. These were covered by loans obtained from Genesis.

The program serves folks earning less than 120% of median area income. Rents range from $550 to $750 a month.

“But we found that people earning higher-than-median income are still struggling to find housing and make ends meet because the cost of living on the islands is about 25% greater than the mainland,” says Fleming-Ives.

On Great Cranberry, CIRT matched its grant with another $245,000 raised through grants and donations, to build two new units. A resident donated 1.2 acres.

“It's much more expensive to build on an island than on the mainland,” says Whitney. “We thought we'd be able to do everything with just the [state] money. But things added up.”

After hiring island and regional contractors to clear the land and install a driveway, underground utility lines, and foundations, CIRT contracted with Coastal Builders in Trenton, which in turn subcontracted with New Brunswick-based Prestige Homes to manufacture two 3-bedroom, energy-efficient modular homes with finished interiors. Coastal Builders handled shipping, installation and utility hook-ups. The units arrived in June 2014 and opened for occupancy two months later.

CIRT rents the new homes for $750 per month, plus utilities, and the older houses for $600 per month, plus utilities.

Below market-rate housing

CIRT, which was established in 1996, has a combination of refurbished existing houses and new houses. Thanks to bond money issued in 2010 for affordable housing throughout the state, the island was able to develop two new rental homes in 2014.

The Walls and Gaither families moved from Biddeford and from North Carolina, respectively, into the new year-round rentals in the fall. The previous May, Rosalie Kell and her college-aged son moved from nearby Bernard into the Rice House, and the Sumner family arrived from Fancy Gap, Va., to live in the Kane House.

“We were looking at everything that was available in the state of Maine, and this was all we could find,” says Jennifer Walls. Maine natives, Jennifer and her husband Ben have three children, ages 10, 12, and 14. Their one-bedroom rental apartment in Biddeford was $800 per month. The landlord sold the building and the Walls family was given 30 days' notice to vacate.

“It was in the middle of winter. It was a horrible day,” Walls says.

Three-bedroom rentals were too expensive or not big enough or wouldn't allow a dog. Typical rents were $1,000 or more.

When the Walls family found the CIRT option on Craigslist, they traveled to Great Cranberry to look at the house and meet with CIRT's board of directors. Despite the logistics of moving to and living on an island, they decided it was worth a try.

For the Gaither family, the new unit was actually the third affordable home they've lived in on Great Cranberry. Ingrid and Ric Gaither first visited in 2004. Back then, the North Carolina couple knew they were attracted to coastal Maine, tried out Lewiston/Auburn, then spotted a CIRT ad for an affordable home.

“We immediately knew we were going to live on Cranberry,” Ingrid Gaither says. Still, work at the time wasn't plentiful, so after a couple of years, they went back to North Carolina.

“The whole time, we were thinking about Cranberry,” she says. With Whitney's help, and with a small child by then, they were able to move back about five years ago.

“We're big fans and supporters of CIRT,” Gaither says. “It's allowed us to live here two times, in three houses, and now we're raising our son here.”

Life in a fishbowl

In its initial years, CIRT leaders had the challenge of learning the best way to screen applicants. There were tenants who didn't pay their bills, had no job prospects or damaged the units. High turnover in the rental units was a problem.

“Getting the houses established is just one piece of the pie,” says Whitney. “It's not like the mainland, where you advertise and people apply. Out here, we have to be able to show there's work, or applicants have to be able to show us they have certain skills that can be used on the island, because the last thing we want is to bring a family out here and have them take jobs away from people who are already here.”

Another consideration is insularity.

“Not everybody is suited to living on an island,” says Whitney. “It's quite a different lifestyle. Essentially, you're in a fishbowl: Everybody knows your business and you know theirs. Some people can't handle that. The winter can be tough, the economy can be thin. You might not be able to get to the mainland at 2 a.m. if you have a medical emergency. We have to be candid.”

On Great Cranberry, as on other islands, affordable housing works in conjunction with other initiatives. A Monday-through-Friday commuter ferry — funded by taxpayers, ticket fees and a state subsidy — was implemented several years ago to make it easier for people to travel to the mainland for work. Expanded broadband access allows residents to telecommute. Although Great Cranberry's elementary school hasn't operated for 15 years— students are sent to neighboring Islesford —continued investment ensures that the building will be ready for school use when needed.

Schools are critical for sustaining and growing year-round populations, says Fleming-Ives.

“If schools close, the islands can't attract young families,” she says.

For all of the current residents, the combined initiatives, the close-knit community, and their own flexibility with regard to earning a living, made for a perfect match. Two husbands found work with a local contractor. Ric Gaither works as a sternman, has a job at the Islesford fishermen's co-op, and shares caretaking jobs with his wife. Jennifer Walls is a certified nursing assistant and cares for ailing seniors. Two days a week she's in Bar Harbor to work back-to-back shifts at a senior care center. She supplements her income with cleaning jobs, bookkeeping for boatyards and writing a monthly column for the local newspaper. Darlene Sumner, who has 17 years' experience in the children's mental health field, cares for a new baby and three other kids, does small cleaning jobs and works part time at a café.

Ingrid Gaither juggles part-time work at the library and general store, while also caretaking and house cleaning.

“The key, we're finding, is having year-round jobs, even if they don't pay a high hourly rate,” says Ingrid. “It's more important to me to have a year-round income that I can count on, rather than have a windfall in the summer and trying to make it last.”

For Rosalie Kell, after various migrations for her career and family, and with her son now in college, Great Cranberry Island is home.

“My son says, 'Is this where I'm going to bring my children to see their grandmother?'” she recalled. “I says, 'Yes, this is it.' I'm driving my taproot into this granite.”