Tag: Our Residents

Nonprofit head calls Maine’s low-income housing progress ‘dismal’

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

February 9, 2022

Maine’s housing crisis is building a growing bipartisan will to find solutions

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

February 6, 2022

Report suggests changes to local zoning to expand affordable housing

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

January 27, 2022

Brick Hill Program for children in low-income areas may be here to stay

LEWISTON — The developers behind a proposed senior housing project at the former Martel Elementary School say the project is moving forward after securing key financing. The proposed 44-unit senior housing redevelopment would reuse the aged school building at 880 Lisbon St., which permanently closed in 2019 before the new Connors Elementary School opened. Project

January 14, 2022

After-school program launched at Brick Hill

SOUTH PORTLAND — Avesta Housing and Boys & Girls Clubs of Southern Maine (BGCSM) have partnered to provide a unique after-school program in the Brick Hill neighborhood of South Portland that, if successful, may be expanded to other communities across southern Maine. Two days a week, staff from BGCSM provide on-site after-school programming to children

January 12, 2022

Senior support worker connects older adults with resources

Avesta Housing has created a new staff role to safeguard housing stability for older adults living in our properties. This “senior support specialist” will provide one-on-one support to senior residents with mental health issues who are struggling with day-to-day tasks necessary for independent living. The program’s goal is to ensure residents receive the help they

November 9, 2021

Community gardens bring residents together

Firmly gripping a handheld square hoe in her right hand, Caroline E. Savage describes what she has planted in her raised garden bed at Motherhouse, a 55-plus Avesta Housing community in Portland. A couple of tomato plants here. Some kale over there. Rosemary, basil, and dill for flavoring. She’s an artist — a photographer by

July 1, 2021

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