January 12 marked the opening of the newest housing venture of Shalom House Inc., a Portland agency that provides support services and affordable housing for people who live with serious mental illness.

Valley Street Apartments, located at 88 Gilman Street adjacent to the Shalom House offices, consists of 24 apartments available to both low and moderate income families and individuals with special needs. Residents in need of support services will have the opportunity to live in their own apartments and receive case management assistance from Shalom House as well as other coordinated healthcare services.

Funding sources included MaineHousing, TD Banknorth, the Northern New England Housing Investment Fund (NNEHIF) and a $323,400 acquisition loan from the Genesis Fund.

"This is a big deal," said Shalom House Executive Director Joseph Brannigan as he welcomed about 50 people to the open house. John Anton, head of NNEHIF commented, "As someone who lives in this neighborhood, I appreciate this project. This is what we need, more affordable rental opportunities." Others on hand to address the crowd included Dale McCormick, director of MaineHousing and Leslie Merrill representing U.S. Rep. Tom Allen. City Councilor David Marshall said, "This used to be a vacant lot and now it is apartments within walking distance to many services and located between two major bus routes."

As the owner of yet-undeveloped property on the block between Gilman and Valley Streets, Shalom House is poised to begin the next level of development on the site: a six-resident group home for individuals with serious mental illness and office and clinical space that will house psychiatric services in Shalom House's collaboration with Spring Harbor Hospital.

Pearl Place, a workforce housing project located on the corner of Oxford and Pearl Street in Portland’s Bayside Neighborhood will create 60 units in a mix of one, two and three bedroom apartments. Construction of the project began in late November and is expected to be completed by the fall of 2007. In April 2006, the Genesis Fund provided a $500,000 loan for the project. Additional funding sources include the City of Portland, TD Banknorth, MaineHousing, Northern New England Housing Investment Fund, Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, and an Enterprise Foundation Green Community grant.

Pearl Place, at 210 Pearl Street, will return multi-family housing to an area of Portland where many families lived before residences were torn down to make way for industrial development. This site provides close, easy access to public transportation, schools, and services.

Pearl Place rents will be $600 to $730 per month for a one-bedroom apartment, $730 to $875 for two bedrooms, and $850 to $1,000 for three bedrooms. These levels are considered affordable for tenants with household incomes at 50 percent to 60 percent of Portland's median. With more than 80 percent of the city’s rental households having annual incomes below $37,500, many families now renting will be eligible to apply for a home at Pearl Place.

Future phases of the project include as many as 40 market-rate condominiums and 15 additional apartments.

Habitat ReStore opens in Bath
Over the weekend of February 1 - 3, Habitat for Humanity/7 Rivers Maine held the grand opening of its ReStore located in Bath. The retail outlet will sell donated new or gently used building materials in the former Bath Iron Works office building that was purchased, in part, with an acquisition loan from the Genesis Fund last October.

Genesis Fund director steps down
Genesis Fund Executive Director Beth McPherson, who has led the organization since 1993, will step down on or before June 30, 2007.

"I hesitate to use the word retire," she said, "I intend to stay involved in housing work and other community work." Beth looks forward to new opportunities to serve the community once the new executive director has settled into the position.

Genesis Fund President Joanne Campbell, senior vice president of the Camden National Corporation, is heading the search process. The deadline for applications is Friday, February 16.