Why Housing Matters
Our Mission
We will lead a process engaging communities and businesses to seek suitable sites, funding, and developers to create workforce housing for individuals and families.
Meet Your Neighbors
Bob Luce, Carrabassett Coffee
Our employees struggle to find housing locally. Many of them commute thirty minutes or more to work…
My daughters want to live where they grew up but housing prices have skyrocketed since the pandemic and Airbnb.
John and Tammy Goldfrank, Longfellows Restaurant
It is difficult to hire qualified cooks and full-time front of the house employees because of the lack of housing. Being located near a major ski and golf community, Air B&Bs and local rental agencies are asking monthly rental fees that were unheard of 3 to 4 years ago.
Katie Connors, Director Western Maine Center For Children
This last summer I left this apartment in Kingfield because our rent had almost doubled. It was really challenging. The search feels never-ending for housing.
Stacey McCluskey, Educator, Maine Guide
This is a chance for us to have some influence over how the population of Kingfield grows. It would be great to attract people with jobs –people who want to live here and contribute to our community year round.
Rob and Polly MacMichael, Rolling Fatties
There are no affordable houses to buy in Kingfield. There are no apartments for rent in Kingfield. There are jobs available in town, there are opportunities for new businesses in town, and there are openings in our school. Kingfield’s current comprehensive plan highlights the need for workforce housing development and the current proposal from WMMH meets the location criteria for this development.
Jed Whiting, General Manager Stratton Lumber
This is not low-income housing. This is not section eight housing. This is something entirely different. It’s intended for folks that make a good living, that are part of the community. Ideally, our communities would champion these projects.
Charlie Woodworth, Greater Franklin Development Council
The organization plans to work closely with employers so that we are a resource for them in allowing them options for their employees, their new hires.
Ryan and Sarah Reed, Kingfield Residents
We started looking for a house to buy in late 2019… Four years later, we are living in a rental with a six month lease and we’re not sure where we’ll live next. Decent rentals are hard to find and everything that comes up for sale is either prohibitively expensive or needs a ton of work.
Brooklyn Leclair, Sugarloaf Manager
It has been extremely difficult for me to find housing. I actually just recently moved last week and that was my sixth move in the past three years. There’s nothing affordable that’s long-term housing so I’ve only found things for like six months.
Did You Know?
Out of the 1,100 workers that commute to jobs in the local area, 36% of those workers commute more than 25 miles to work in the area.
Within the study area, there are approximately 285 households that spend more than 30% of their income on housing. We estimate that at least 10% of these households would consider relocating to workforce housing units if provided.
Of the homes sold in 2021, only 17% of homes were affordable to a household earning the study area median income. The 2021 study area median sale price was $380,000, which would require a household income of $100,000 to afford.
Regional Workforce Housing Needs Assessment And Strategy
This assessment focuses on the housing needs associated with the year-round local and regional workforce. The ultimate goal of the study was to identify a specific course of action for increasing the supply of housing units in the region that are attainable to the local workforce, to ensure the future economic sustainability of the region. If left unaddressed, the workforce housing shortage will continue to impact the ability of local businesses to attract and retain workers and threaten the region’s high quality of life.
Latest News
WMMH receives $1.5 million for 12 Units of Workforce Housing
We recently learned that WMMH has been awarded $1.5 million to build 12 units of workforce housing. A very special thank you to Senator Susan Collins and Staff for all the help they provided during the application and award process. We would also like to thank Senator King for his support.
Carrabassett Valley Approves Contract Zoning Ordinance – March 13, 2024
Carrabassett Vally Voters approved a contract zoning ordinance at their March 13th Town Meeting. This ordinance gives an organization like WMMH an opportunity to submit a plan for development that may not meet all the requirements of a particular zone such as density. If the developer can show a public purpose and compatibility with the […]
Kingfield Vote – Contract Zone March 5th
Unfortunately, the Town of Kingfield did not approve the contract zone agreement that would have allowed us to build workforce housing in this wonderful community. Our Board of Directors met the next morning and although we are all a little bummed out we are full speed ahead to find a new site. Thanks to all […]