Avesta Housing
Rebecca Hatfield, president and CEO of Avesta Housing, at the groundbreaking for River Turn Woods.
September 28, 2022
Two Maine nonprofits tackle affordable housing in NH
Avesta Housing
Avesta Housing's River Turn Woods development in Conway, N.H., will have 156 affordable housing units.
Two Portland-based nonprofits this week announced plans to address affordable housing challenges in neighboring New Hampshire.
Evernorth, a nonprofit with dual headquarters in Portland and Burlington, Vt., said it will oversee a workforce housing loan fund for the Upper Connecticut River Valley, which includes parts of New Hampshire and Vermont. Bar Harbor Bank & Trust is a key partner on that.
Closer to Maine, in Conway, N.H., Avesta Housing, broke ground on its first affordable housing development in Mount Washington Valley on Sept. 23. Bangor Savings Bank is a partner in that venture.
Avesta is the largest nonprofit affordable housing provider in northern New England.
River Turn Woods will provide 156 new homes to the Conway area, which is about 10 miles west of the Maine border. The first phase, consisting of 40 new homes, is expected to be completed by summer 2023. The development will be near the Technology Village Business Resource Center on Route 16 (White Mountain Highway).
In all, Avesta has 700 affordable homes under construction in Maine and New Hampshire.
“Avesta is honored to be part of this vibrant community that holds such a rich history, and we are proud to be able to bring much-needed affordable housing to the area,” said Rebecca Hatfield, Avesta Housing's president and CEO, and a Mainebiz 2021 Mainebiz Women to Watch honoree.
“We recognize that New Hampshire and Maine are experiencing a dire and unprecedented affordable housing crisis, and we are committed to doing everything we can to address that challenge," she said.
Also speaking at the River Turn Woods groundbreaking were Patrick Hess, Avesta Housing director of real estate development; Diane Donaldson, senior vice president with Bangor Savings Bank; Rob Dapice, executive director and CEO of New Hampshire Housing; Andy Dean, chair of the Mount Washington Valley Housing Coalition; as well as New Hampshire elected officials.
Avesta Housing's portfolio includes 110 affordable housing properties with a total of 3,200 apartments housing nearly 5,000 residents. Most recently, in June, Avesta opened the $15.3 million, 75-unit Deering Place housing development in Portland.
Workforce housing loan fund
Evernorth, a nonprofit with dual headquarters in Portland and Burlington, Vt., said it will oversee a workforce housing loan fund for the Upper Connecticut River Valley, which includes parts of New Hampshire and Vermont.
Evernorth provides affordable housing and community investments in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. It has raised and deployed over $1 billion in equity capital for affordable housing and built more than 15,000 affordable homes and apartments for low and moderate income people across northern New England.
In this case, the Upper Valley Loan Fund was created from an investment by eight of the area's employers, which invested $8.95 million to fund development of affordable housing.
The eight employers in the loan fund include Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, the third-largest Maine-based bank, with assets of $3.6 billion and 50 branch offices in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. It is the only Maine-based bank with a presence all three northern New England states.
File photo / Tim Greenway
Curtis Simard, president and CEO of Bar Harbor Bankshares, said the company reduced funding costs, increased fee-based revenue and grew commercial loans.
Curtis Simard, president and CEO of Bar Harbor Bank, said that he was impressed with the wide range of investors in the Upper Valley Loan Fund.
"Typically you might see one employer, like a college or hospital, invest in a housing project that only benefits their own demographic or region," Simard told Mainebiz. "In this case, there are five (besides the banks) with various investment sizes. It's also somewhat unique that the location the investment will benefit is precisely defined and limited to a slightly smaller area."
File photo / Sara Santor
Evernorth, a nonprofit headquartered in Portland and Burlington, Vt., earmarked $54 million for projects in northern New England, including five in Maine.
Other investors were Citizens Bank, Dartmouth College, Dartmouth Health, Hanover Co-op Food Stores, Hypertherm, King Arthur Baking and Mascoma Bank, which has an office in Portland.
The Upper Valley Loan Fund is aimed at developers and housing organizations, with the goal to build affordable apartments. Many would-be renters in the area have been priced out of the market.
The loan fund will build or preserve apartments for people who can afford rents of $1,200 to $1,600 per month.
"By comparison, the current market rate for apartments in Grafton and Windsor counties is between $1,500 to $2,200 per month. So, you can see that by leveraging these employer dollars, we will be able to create considerable savings for the workforce as compared to what the market is producing," said Deb Flannery, vice president of lending at Evernorth.
Editor's note: Mainebiz Staff Writer Alexis Wells contributed to this story.
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