Courtesy / Spurling Design
A rendering of the floor plan of the Cherryfield house in the Downeast Tiny House Project.
June 11, 2019
One tiny house, one big housing idea Downeast
Courtesy / Spurling Design
A rendering of the Cherryfield house in the Downeast Tiny House Project. The project may expand to more houses in the future.
By Maureen Milliken
What has started as one tiny house may blossom into a big idea to address housing issues in Washington and Hancock counties.
Several organizations have collaborated on providing a 560-square-foot house for a homeless veteran in Cherryfield, a project that will lead to two houses next year and possibly a group of affordable, energy-efficient houses in the future, said Bobbi Ann Harris, housing services director for Downeast Community Partners, a nonprofit that provides quality of life resources in Hancock and Washington counties.
The organization partnered with Maine Seacoast Mission, Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School in Marlborough, Mass., and the CF Adams Foundation on the Downeast Tiny House Project.
The groups have worked together for years on repairing and weatherizing homes, but this is the first project involving a tiny house. Downeast Community Partners has created a blog to track the house's building progress, complete with videos.
Harris said the project grew out of a shared passion for tiny homes by many of those involved, as well as the struggle to find adequate housing solutions for residents of the region.
"We all love the concept," she told Mainebiz. "They're so affordable, clean. It's an easier way of life."
Her organization helps weatherize homes for those who need it, but was finding many of the homes need repairs before weatherization work can be done. That led to a collaboration several years ago with Maine Seacoast Mission, which, through its Housing Rehabilitation Program, repairs or rebuilds 20 houses a year in the area.
The tiny house project arose through a relationship Scott Shaw, housing rehabilitation program manager for the Misson, had with the Massachusetts vocational school.
Shaw said that the groups involved in the tiny house project all had collaborated on housing rehabilitation — roofing, siding, skirting, wheelchair accessibility, windows, doors, flooring, exterior and interior painting — "so the families living in these homes will be safe and warm."
“With our housing rehabilitation, the families involved have skin in the game," he said in a news release. "That criteria is true of the tiny house project too. What’s new with building the Downeast Tiny House Project — it is a brand-new home for a local military veteran."
Harris, a retired U.S. Navy veteran, said that Downeast Community Partners has a program to provide housing to veterans, and employs several veterans, "So this project has a strong personal connection for us," he said.
Tiny house, big project
Assabet Valley and Maine Seacoast Mission had been discussing the possibility of constructing a tiny home for years, as a way to enhance construction programs for students in grades 9 and 10, preparing them for off-campus construction projects in grades 11 and 12, said Russell Mangsen, director of technical programs at the school..
The Downeast house was designed by architect Jeri D.W. Spurling of Spurling Design in Islesford. It will be set on private property in Cherryfield, a Washington County town of 1,200 halfway between Ellsworth and Machias on U.S. Route 1.
The veteran, who asked to remain anonymous, is also helping finance the project.
The house is being built under supervision of Mangsen and lead carpentry teacher Bill Italiano. Once finished, it will be trucked to Maine, and placed on a foundation and infrastructure. Much of the goods and labor are donated and the house will have a concrete foundation, a well, septic system, electricity and be heated and cooled with a heat pump.
The ground work is being done this summer and the house is expected to be delivered in October, Harris said.
The project was funded by the C.F. Adams Charitable Trust, of Massachusetts, with support from area businesses as well as some in Massachusetts.
Businesses that have donated services and goods are: Champion Concrete, Coastline Homes, Essex Bay Cabinetry, John Goodwin, Jr Construction, Keeley Crane Service, Koopman Lumber, Savoie Modular Homes, Shannon Drilling Inc., Spurling Design, County Concrete, Al Rapa and Son Plumbing, Cloud 9 Electric, Cole Creek Heating, National Lumber, City Welding, Hammond Lumber, and St. Pierre Manufacturing.
"Everything has been donated by private businesses," Harris said. "Which has been really cool."
Harris said the veteran who will live in the house is 90% disabled from his military service, and developed a severe corn allergy from oil fires in Iraq. That means that much of the infrastructure will have to be tweaked to accommodate his allergies.
"There are corn derivatives in everything," she said.
The house was originally going to have solar power, but the array, which could cost as much as $30,000, wouldn't have been cost-effective. Harris said, though that led to the thought a group of the homes could be built in the area that would share a solar array.
More to come
For now, the group of tiny homes is still in the idea stage.
Harris said the plan is to build two homes next year, one by Assabet students and the other by local students, either at Washington County Community College or possibly the technical school that will be built in a former supermarket building in Columbia Falls.
The Massachusetts school is building it because they were already building tiny houses, and that's how the project emerged, she said. "The students are getting-hands on experience, they're learning how to build."
But she said that as the project grows, "We really want to get local students involved, and work locally. It's a great opportunity for the kids."
The organization owns some property, and is considering the Machias area, where residents could walk to town for services and shopping. She said that some communities have zoning that prohibits homes of under a certain size, so that's another aspect that they have to consider.
According to MaineHousing statistics, the median price for a single-family house in Hancock County is $210,000, requiring a $62,831 income to afford it. The median income in the county is $51,740. In neighboring Washington County, housing is more affordable, with the median home price is $120,000 and a $37,235 income needed to afford it. The median income in the county is $41,126.
Harris said, though, it's difficult for those without resources to find housing in both counties. In Hancock, inventory is low; in Washington, a small population is spread across a large area, adding transportation and other issues into the mix.
She said the focus will be on veterans or senior housing, and organizers are also brainstorming on how it will all work. "Going forward, we're probably not going to get the donor support we got with this one," she said. "It was new and everyone was excited."
In the immediate future, they're getting the site ready for the house.
"We're talking about [the complex of houses], but we want to make sure this one is a success, see how it works out," she said. "We're really excited."
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