Just a block above Kennebunkport’s tony Dock Square sits a large, white clapboard apartment building that for 130 years has provided affordable housing for local workers.
Built in 1895 by Capt. Joseph H. Jeffery as a rooming house, the eight-unit building sits on a half-acre lot at 6 North St., practically next door to the landmark South Church.
The South Church Housing Corp. has owned and managed the building for close to 50 years, but now the organization is dissolving and passing the torch to the local Neighborhood Housing Trust, which since its founding in 2018 has worked to provide affordable homes in Kennebunk, Kennebunkport and Arundel.
The Neighborhood Housing Trust has built two small single-family home communities in Kennebunkport, Heritage Woods and Landon Woods.
PATCO Construction, of Sanford, built the homes at Landon Woods, which were finished and sold earlier this year.
“This transition represents a positive step forward and will provide the property and its residents with the support of a larger, well-established, and better-resourced nonprofit organization dedicated to providing safe, affordable housing,” said Jeff Troiano, president of the South Church Housing Corp.
“Expanding our work to serve current and future tenants is exciting,” said Larissa Crockett, executive director of the Neighborhood Housing Trust. “The tenants who call this building home serve our community as volunteers and workforce, and they care for each other as neighbors.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to continue the excellent work of the South Church Housing Corp. in providing safe and efficient housing for long-standing Kennebunkport residents.”
Neighborhood Housing Trust plans to keep the units affordable while investing in improvements that will make the apartments safer, more comfortable and more energy-efficient, and the organization is fundraising to replace the roof, heating systems, windows and other infrastructure.
Crockett said the organization is also looking for a partner to make an impactful donation in exchange for naming rights for the property.
