At our May 2023 annual town meeting, the town voted to appoint and fund a housing administrator position. As a result, the Year-Round Housing Committee (YRHC) was reestablished, and new committee members were appointed.
Year-Round Housing Committee Mission Statement
The Mission of the Year-Round Housing Committee (YRHC) is to seek housing solutions to help sustain the year-round community.
Year-Round Housing Committee Members
Em Burnett – Chair
Karen Boss
Candy Dale
Cyrus Hagge – Secretary
Mark Greene
Brian Dudley – Housing Administrator/Town Administrator
John Burke – Select Board Member
Janice Avignon – Long Island Comprehensive Plan / Maine Island Coalition liaison
UPDATES:
Aug. 1, 2025
Work continues for Long Island’s YRHC
The YRHC continues to work steadily to assess the opportunities and challenges presented by each of the following five potential sites to develop new work-force housing on Long Island to help sustain a vibrant community life for all residents. Each potential project presents a different set of construction/renovation needs, as well as careful legal and site reviews.
- Four units of new construction on Beach Avenue town property.
- Four units of new construction on Cushing Avenue town property (west end cemetery).
- The United Methodist Church’s Parsonage.
- Five units in the Condos building on Island Avenue.
- The Sheriff’s House on Beach Avenue.
We have secured an extension from Maine State Housing for our $840,000 grant to help support up to four units of workforce housing. At this moment, we await responses from the owner of the Condos on Island Avenue to help us evaluate this particular option. We are also in conversation with the United Methodist Church regarding a purchase price and preliminary cost estimates for rehabilitating the Parsonage. The construction costs for building four new units either on the Town owned Beach Avenue or the Cushing Avenue sites are prohibitively high and perhaps infeasible at this point in time. Using the Sheriff’s House on Beach Avenue is another potential site, but it will require our finding another suitable location for overnight sheriff visits during the summer season.
We are grateful for the participation of interested members in the Long Island community who have joined our bi-monthly meetings these past few months. We will continue to share our work as it progresses. When and if a project looks feasible, further input will be sought at public hearings before seeking final approval at a future town meeting.
May 5, 2025
Today the Year-Round Housing Committee is sharing some updates about our work to date with important details relevant to Town Meeting. Please see the images or read on for a text version.
May 2025 Year-Round Housing Committee Update
We are cautiously optimistic that our years of effort are finally moving forward. Shortly after the adoption of the 2022 LONG ISLAND COMPREHENSIVE PLAN, several key initiatives came together to help the Town achieve its goal to develop housing solutions to sustain the viability of the Long Island year-round community with workforce housing.
1. The Town created a volunteer Year-Round Housing Committee (YRHC) consisting of island residents and one selectman.
2. Brian Dudley, our Town Administrator, was appointed as the Housing Director to provide professional staff support for the Committee’s work.
3. A Maine State Housing grant of $840,000 for unbridged islands to support building or buying up to four unites of workforce housing is in the final review stage.
4. The Town contributed initial seed money of $35,000 from land sales which has allowed us to explore several different properties for possible housing development, acquisition, and/or design. We have learned much, both good and challenging, through our exploratory process.
The May 2025 Town Meeting Warrant, Article 42, includes distributing $120,000 from the sale of town-owned land to help with site development and startup costs for a proposed project. These funds will be an investment for the town by supporting the project and making the land more usable and saleable should the proposed project not go forward. Your support of this Article 42 is important.
The current proposed location for the new housing is the triangle-shaped site on the corner of Fowler Road and Cushing Street (formerly West End Cemetery). Our choice for this location as a first project has been driven by the high costs of site development on the original Beach Avenue site. The details on the site plan, housing design, construction costs are gradually coming together. We will not only need volunteers but wide community support to help move the project forward. We will also seek financial support through community fundraising and loan assistance to help us with the construction of this new, much needed work-force housing.
Thank you for your interest in the work of the YRHC. STAY TUNED and GET READY to lend your support as we move forward to achieve our goal
Jan. 28, 2025
The YRHC has come to a point where some review and reflection are needed before additional energy and time goes into our lofty goal of “seeking housing solutions to sustain the year round community.”
See the full report below.
YRHC Summary Report amended Jan 1, 2025
July 28, 2024
Long Island Workforce Housing Site Overview 2024
Long Island Workforce Housing House and Floor Plans 2024
March 29, 2024
Information about Long Island’s need for new housing, including Project Need
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Where are we now?
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What is the proposed project?
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Where is the project located?
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How is the project financed?
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Who will be eligible for these units?
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How will candidates be selected?
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What’s next?
Year Round Housing Committee update
Our Island Home: North Haven’s campaign for housing
Our Island Home is a short film highlighting the significant housing challenge in North Haven, Maine. It also reveals the newest campaign by North Haven Sustainable Housing to combat the urgent need.
The housing issues presented in this video are not unique to the year-round community of North Haven. The need for year-round housing options to sustain island communities resonates throughout Casco Bay as well. The success of the year-round community on Long Island is uncertain without workforce housing options available to retain and grow the population needed to ensure the future of the island’s year-round community. Please watch this video that explores the need for year-round housing and the efforts to provide
housing options for future families.
Our Island Home (youtube.com)
Last Updated on August 2, 2025 by Elizabeth Marchak