Genesis Fund makes loans to Shalom House, CHOM, Harbor Schools

April 2007

Shalom House, Portland

When Shalom House, an agency that offers adults in Greater Portland who live with severe mental illness a choice of quality housing and support services, purchased a 1.32-acre site near Hadlock Field in October 2004, its staff and directors had five goals in mind: to provide office space for its staff and programs, to house an art studio for its community art program, to develop 4,000 feet of space for lease, to build 24 units of affordable multifamily housing and a six-unit group home for persons with mental illness, and to provide sufficient parking for all the site uses. By early 2007, Shalom House approached the final stages of financing and completing each of these goals.

 

The Genesis Fund was pleased to be instrumental at the beginning and the end -- first with a $323,400 acquisition loan as part of the initial purchase in October 2004 and last in February 2007 with the Genesis Fund Board's approval of a refinancing and addition of $289,500 to assist with the completion of the office renovation.

 

Community Housing of Maine, Vinalhaven

The Genesis Fund Board of Directors also approved a loan to Community Housing of Maine (CHOM) at its February 16 meeting. The $25,000 construction loan will allow CHOM to complete exterior renovations on an optioned commercial building on Vinalhaven that will yield seven affordable

apartments. The building at 53 High Street is in a developed residential neighborhood, walking distance both from downtown and from the ferry dock, and is served by town water and sewer.

 

Like many island and coastal communities in Maine , Vinalhaven has experienced serious inflation of property values caused by the influx of affluent, seasonal buyers. This has made it increasingly difficult for low and

moderate income families to afford housing, particularly since the cost of constructing new housing is compounded by distance from the mainland. According to a Housing Demand Analysis prepared for the Town in 2004 by Planning Decisions, fully two-thirds of the 137 renter households on Vinalhaven in 2000 had annual incomes below $35,000. The study projected a need for an additional 20 units by 2007. No new affordable rental housing units have been added to the housing stock since the analysis in 2004, which also noted a "backlog" demand of 3 to 10 rental units. CHOM is aware of several qualified renters who are living in substandard housing units (no indoor plumbing) and would benefit immediately from the completion of this project.

 

Harbor Schools of Maine, Rockport

A third loan approved at the February Board of Directors meeting provided for the refinancing of a $138,892 construction loan made in 2002 to Harbor Schools of Maine in Rockport. The school and its program provide the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) with a stable environment in which to place boys aged 13 to 17 who need treatment for substance abuse and mental illness. The facility was the first of its kind in the state.

<back to News