PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — More than a dozen people experiencing homelessness in Aroostook County will soon be able to have a new start thanks to the only housing project of its kind north of Portland.
About 120 people attended a dedication ceremony Monday for the Aroostook County Action Program’s Norman L. Fournier Place, a 13-unit supportive housing building in Presque Isle named after the agency’s very first director and current Aroostook County Commissioner Norman Fournier.
Many places in Maine lack affordable housing, and Aroostook communities are struggling to find solutions. The community service agency envisioned several years ago a supportive housing environment for those who needed shelter. Now, 13 people or families will have a home of their own as they work to find a more stable life.
“Norman L. Fournier Place, much like the man for whom the building is named, will serve as a beacon for the most vulnerable among us,” said Jason Parent, agency executive director.
The need for housing was among top priorities in the agency’s community needs assessment, he said.
The building at 1 Edgemont Drive will also house the agency’s Hope and Prosperity Center, which helps people access community resources.
As more and more people who were homeless came to the agency for assistance, staff realized the need for a dedicated space where they could help people seek employment, education, affordable housing and other support services, Parent said. The Hope and Prosperity Center opened in 2019, and will now be housed on Fournier Place’s ground floor to be close to the people it serves.
The building isn’t quite finished yet, he said, owing to pandemic-related supply delays that have continued. Second-floor units and the Hope and Prosperity Center are just about complete, but some of the lower-floor apartments still need construction work. The first tenants should be moving in within the coming weeks, Parent said.
The housing complex is the collective dream of many, said ACAP Program Director Heidi Rackliffe. The pandemic exacerbated the needs of many people and the housing market has never been so scarce, homeless shelters so full or the price or rent so high, she said.
“There are so many hands that have had a place in this work,” she said. “It is because of all of you that we will be changing the lives of 13 lucky individuals, 13 households who have spent months, sometimes years, living on the street without knowing the pleasure of what it feels like to not have to worry about where they will lay their head at night.”
There is a similar facility in Portland, but Fournier Place is the first in Aroostook and the only supportive housing complex outside southern Maine, Rackliffe said.
Unlike transitional housing, which gives tenants two years to find a permanent living situation, people can live in supportive housing with no time limit, agency officials said last year. Rent amounts will depend on each tenant’s situation. Some may have affordable housing vouchers from the state, while others could pay subsidized or even market rental prices.
The project started about four years ago. The agency searched for ways to help combat the housing shortage, and in 2021 rented the vacant building at Edgemont Drive with the goal of creating transitional living spaces. The building is close to the Sister Mary O’Donnell Shelter for the Homeless.
The agency purchased the building in 2022. That same year, the city of Presque Isle approved changing the land’s zoning from industrial to residential/office, which allowed more apartments to be added within the zone. Construction started last spring.
Funds for the project came from a $2.4 million supportive housing grant from MaineHousing, along with a Community Development Block Grant from the city of Presque Isle, The Maine Health Access Foundation and the Rodney and Mary Barton Smith Family Foundation.
ACAP announced during an Aroostook County Commissioners meeting last year that it would name the facility after Fournier, who lives in Wallagrass, in honor of his longtime community service.
Fournier was the agency’s first director, taking over in 1974 after the St. John Valley Action Council merged with the Central Aroostook Action Program. He led ACAP until 1988.
At Monday’s event, Fournier said it was surreal to have the facility named after him.
“Never in my wildest dreams had I ever thought that I would have a facility named after me,” he said. “As mentioned by Heidi and other people here today, we aren’t just providing a roof for people to stay. This housing complex will provide the support necessary for individuals staying here to navigate needed services.”
Fournier said he knows firsthand the amount of work needed to bring such a project to fruition, and credited agency staff and board members for their hard work.
Melford Pelletier, Fournier’s longtime friend, offered highlights of Fournier’s community service, from the military to raising his family, from his years at ACAP to serving many other entities including the University of Maine at Fort Kent and St. John Vianney Parish.
Two plaques were unveiled that will hang in the facility. One honors Fournier as the complex’s namesake. Another will hang in the Hope and Prosperity Center honoring philanthropist Mary Barton Akeley Smith for her contributions to the center.
Remarks were also offered by ACAP Board Chair Trudy Gorneault, Presque Isle City Manager Tyler Brown, MaineHousing Director Dan Brennan, Maine Senate president Troy Jackson and representatives for Rep. Jared Golden and Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins.
Jeffrey Pangburn of TD Bank in Presque Isle presented the agency with the 2024 Housing for Everyone Grant Award, which will help fund the housing facility going forward.
Following an official ribbon cutting ceremony with the Central Aroostook Chamber of Commerce, tours of the building took place.
