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March 20, 2025 On the record

On the Record: Island Housing Trust’s outgoing director reflects on tackling MDI’s housing shortage

Photo / Courtesy Island Housing Trust Marla O’Byrne, who has served as executive director of the Island Housing Trust on Mount Desert Island since 2018, will retire this fall.
By Laurie Schreiber

Marla O’Byrne has announced plans to step down as executive director of Island Housing Trust on Mount Desert Island, effective this fall. A search committee is scouting for the next executive director. O’Byrne served in the role since 2018, but was also one of the founding board members in 2004 (when it was part of MDI Tomorrow).

Under her watch, the nonprofit has made significant strides in creating and sustaining year-round housing for Mount Desert Island’s workforce and families, shaping the development of neighborhoods like Jones Marsh and Ripples Hill, as well as developing partnerships with landowners, donors and community members. 

MB: What was the motivation to start the Island Housing Trust?

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 Island Housing Trust’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, 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 solutions as well.

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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