Photo / Courtesy Island Housing Trust
Marla O’Byrne
March 5, 2025
MDI housing trust leadership search underway as director prepares to retire
Photo / Courtesy Island Housing Trust
In this photo from 2020, Marla O’Byrne, second from right, looks over plans for the Jones Marsh housing development.
Island Housing Trust announced the retirement this fall of its executive director, Marla O’Byrne, and the launch of a search committee for the next executive director.
During O’Byrne’s tenure, the nonprofit has made significant strides in creating and sustaining year-round housing for Mount Desert Island’s workforce and families.
“Her leadership has not only shaped the development of neighborhoods like Jones Marsh and Ripples Hill but has also fostered strong partnerships with landowners, donors and community partners to secure many year-round homes for MDI’s community,” said Deedie Bouscaren, the board’s president.
Mainebiz asked O’Byrne about the trust’s accomplishments during her tenure. Here’s an edited transcript.
Mainebiz: When did you start at Island Housing Trust?
Marla O’Byrne: I started as executive director in 2018, but I was one of the founding board members in 2004, when it was part of MDI Tomorrow [a citizens' forum on the future of MDI communities].
MB: How did Island Housing Trust get started?
MO: In 2001, MDI Tomorrow brought the community together to look at their concerns for the future, what they loved about their communities and what they wanted to do to protect their communities. One of the outcomes was a workforce housing group. I was part of that.
Also in the group were two board members of an earlier, inactive housing group that worked only in the town of Mount Desert. We revitalized that organization, changed the name and changed the mission to be islandwide.
MB: What was the motivation?
MO: Around the late 1990s, early 2000s, property prices nearly doubled. We’ve always had a housing challenge on the island, but it became apparent that it was getting more difficult.
MB: What was IHT’s first project ?
MO: The town of Mount Desert owned several acres and wanted year-round, workforce housing there. So the town donated 10 acres to IHT. The project name was Ripples Hill. Before my tenure as executive director, IHT built two phases of that neighborhood.
The next approach was created when IHT recognized that people trying to buy houses were running into the obstacle of down payments. IHT raised money to provide down payment assistance. That is cost effective and makes good use of existing homes.
MB: How has the organization evolved?
MO: Over the years IHT has adapted to the opportunities. One family donated a house and we put it on land donated by the town of Mount Desert. We’re helping people purchase houses if we can, although there aren’t that many houses on the market now that are within reach. We purchased and have been donated land that we’ve banked, so we have the potential for more housing as we raise funds. We’re under contract to purchase another property by the end of March. We completed two projects with owners who wanted to sell their houses but didn’t want them converted out of year-round occupancy. We worked with them to sell houses at the price they needed, which was below market but still more than what is considered affordable within our formula, and then we sold them for less, with covenants, to buyers within our affordability range.
We’re in conversations with a few people who want to leave their houses in their wills or have a living estate. People are thinking about how to be part of a creative solution.
MB: What are major accomplishments during your tenure?
MO: Jones Marsh Neighborhood. We have 10 new homes there, four of the homes are in two duplexes, which was a first for us. The duplexes provided a lower price point, expanding our reach among buyers.
MB: What’s on the horizon?
MO: Completing the Ripples Hill project. The first two phases constructed nine homes. The third and final phase will provide nine new houses. We’re working to have them completed in 2027.
We’re part of MDI Housing Solutions [a collaboration across the towns and Acadia National Park to address the housing crisis], which is looking at additional funding resources for housing projects. This is a statewide, national, world problem. We want to look as broadly as we can to create models and find solutions. Other organizations, like the Jackson Laboratory, the YWCA and Friends of Acadia, among others, are working on housing solution as well. Statewide, we’re part of a community planning group hosted by the Island Institute and we’ve been talking with groups across the state looking to create a housing trust for their communities. I’m hoping that, with time, there will be a strong coalition to advocate for broader solutions with additional funding, policies and understanding of what communities need.
MB: What’s your leadership approach?
MO: Collaborative. Our mission is about supporting our communities through housing. So whatever we do is with the community. We talk with people who own houses, with the towns, with the Musson Group [a planning consultant]. I’m proud of the work we’ve done with Maine Coast Heritage Trust. They’ve initiated partnership projects with us, and it’s a wonderful example of two separate missions that intersect to support their communities from different angles but together. And it’s a model that is being replicated.
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