Innovative Lewiston, Sanford housing initiatives get boost with MaineHousing grants
Photo / Maureen Milliken
Lewiston is applying for a $30 million grant that would help tackle the city's housing problems, with a holistic approach that also addresses other needs in the city. The grant application got a boost from MaineHousing's Community Solutions program.
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Programs in Lewiston and Sanford that address local housing needs have gotten a boost with funds from MaineHousing's Community Solutions Grant Program.
Lewiston has been awarded $75,000 to support the city's application for a $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, which would take a full-on approach to addressing downtown neighborhood housing needs.
Sanford has been awarded $150,000 to support its program that rehabilitates tax-foreclosed single-family and two-family buildings and sells them at market rate to income-eligible buyers.
MaineHousing’s Community Solutions program provides matching, locally driven grants to municipalities that take a lead role in creating or preserving affordable housing in their communities, the state's housing authority said in a news release.
“One of MaineHousing’s roles in expanding affordable housing development is to support local initiatives that have the potential to make a big impact in Maine communities,” said Daniel Brennan, director of MaineHousing. “We are honored to fund this work and believe that both of these initiatives will help transform the lives of people in their communities.”
Lewiston, in partnership with the Lewiston Housing Authority, is applying for a $30 million HUD grant designed to aid neighborhoods dealing with distressed housing, inadequate schools, poor health, high crime and lack of capital. If chosen by HUD, Lewiston would use the money to address affordable housing needs, transform the downtown, and serve as a model for other smaller communities with similar challenges, the release said.
The city got a $1.3 million planning grant from the program in 2018 and, if awarded a new grant, would not only build affordable housing, but also kickstart health, safety and workforce improvements. They would largely focus on the so-called Tree Streets neighborhood of downtown.
“If awarded, this grant will help transform the most challenged area of the city into the brighter future envisioned by its residents,” said Lincoln Jeffers, Lewiston’s economic and community development director.
The Sanford funding will help rehabilitate the tax-foreclosed properties and then sell them at or near market rate to income-eligible buyers. The money from the sales would be used to support additional rehabilitations.
The program will bring depreciated housing back into productive use, while creating and preserving affordable housing that otherwise would remain abandoned, be demolished, or be disposed and resold at maximum profit, officials said. The Community Solutions grant funding will be matched with $110,000 from money managed by the Sanford Housing Authority for rehabilitation and redevelopment of housing.
“The city of Sanford is excited to partner with the Sanford Housing Authority and MaineHousing in fulfillment of its comprehensive housing goals," said Ian Houseal, Sanford’s director of community development. "These funds represent one piece of Sanford’s housing and redevelopment strategy,”
Community Solutions Grant funds have also been awarded to the city of Biddeford and the city of Portland this year to help address their affordable housing needs.
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