SCARBOROUGH, Maine — Jeffrey Phillips lives by himself in a studio apartment at Southgate, an Avesta Housing affordable housing community in Scarborough. He suffers from a lower-back injury suffered while working at a dairy farm that limits his mobility. Everyday housekeeping tasks are difficult – and when housekeeping is difficult, it often doesn’t get done.
WESTBROOK, Maine — Despite 60-degree weather and brown grass, Westbrook students were trying to soak up the rest of what’s technically still “winter”. The Westbrook police department held its annual “Blizzard Bash” where there were games, crafts, pizza and more. There were supposed to be activities like snowshoeing, but despite the lack of snow it
Avesta Housing President and CEO Dana Totman and Board Member Peter Bass toured the Park Village neighborhood of Saco on March 2 with Maine House Speaker Ryan Fecteau and Rep. Lynn Copeland, Maine House District 14, as part of a tour and press conference promoting LD 2003, a new bill before the Maine legislature to
ProsperityME has been awarded the Avesta Housing Mike Yandell Award for its extraordinary work in the field of affordable housing. Named for the late Mike Yandell, a former Avesta Housing board chair and the former president of Gorham Savings Bank who is remembered for his commitment to improving the community, the award is presented annually
SOUTH PORTLAND — Maine is in the midst of a housing crisis, but some families in the greater Portland area now have a new place to call home. Last year, there were four subsidized apartment buildings being built in Portland and South Portland. Three of them are now open. “It’s 16 degrees out today,” Shay
Avesta Housing President & CEO Dana Totman recently gave a virtual presentation to the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce and guests as the featured presenter at the Chamber’s monthly Eggs & Issues event. Totman gave a brief overview of affordable housing in Maine, addressed the current affordable housing crisis in the state, and gave 10
Dana Totman, who will soon retire as president and CEO of affordable housing developer Avesta Housing, on Wednesday said the need for such homes in Maine is at a historic level – and big changes in zoning, funding and attitudes are critical. “The need for affordable housing is far greater than any time in Avesta’s
Maine needs 25,000 more affordable homes, but even when it builds new housing, the elderly and others who need it most cannot afford it, the head of an affordable housing agency said on Wednesday. Dana Totman, the outgoing president of the nonprofit Avesta Housing, recalls a widower living in a farmhouse with a leaky roof
Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque remembers when he was a kid, riding around with his single mom, imagining what it would be like to live in one of the city’s nicer homes. Eight years ago, he bought one of their favorites, a stately white colonial perched on a hillside zoned for agriculture and resource protection. Built
PORTLAND — A surging population and highly-competitive market continues to drive up the cost of housing in Maine. Despite flurries of developments throughout the state, housing advocates have seen demand far out-pace available supply of affordable units. “Fundamentally I think what we have in our state is a mismatch of the housing we have is
