PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — To help combat the shortage of affordable housing within Presque Isle, the Aroostook County Action Program has taken steps toward the purchase of a vacant building that could potentially be renovated into apartment units.
ACAP recently entered into a rent agreement to occupy the building at 1 Edgemont Drive, which formerly housed Aroostook Agency on Aging and Aroostook Mental Health Center offices. The organization hopes to officially purchase the building by the end of this year.
If ACAP’s efforts are successful, 1 Edgemont could become the home of around a dozen studio or one-bedroom rental units, the Hope and Prosperity Center and many of ACAP’s family services within 12 to 18 months.
ACAP has chosen to call the potential apartment units “supportive housing” since they would offer flexible rent options dependent upon tenants’ situations, according to project coordinator Theresa Dow.
For instance, if a tenant comes to ACAP’s unit with a state-issued affordable housing voucher, the organization would honor that voucher. Other tenants might pay subsidized or market-priced rent.
Though ACAP’s units will not be considered permanent housing, the organization does not plan to put exact limits on how long tenants can live there.
“We’re not using the term ‘transitional housing’ because with transitional housing there is a limit of two years,” Dow said. “We recognize that there may be barriers and setbacks that could cause a tenant to not be ready to move on after two years.”
Another important component to the supportive housing is the relocation of ACAP’s Hope and Prosperity Center from the organization’s main street office to Edgemont Drive.
The Center will be located on the ground floor of Edgemont and will continue offering services such as technology, family coaching and classroom and conference spaces.
ACAP is currently in the process of transitioning the Center and many administrative and coaching offices to Edgemont. Board members and organization leaders have been discussing potential apartment floor plans with contractors and conducting structural inspections.
Since opening in 2019, staff members who work in the Center have seen an increase in the number of people who arrive homeless or in great need of affordable and stable housing. During that same year, ACAP increased its formal efforts to find a vacant property that could help them fill that need in the community.
Though the Center will still be open to the general public at Edgemont, the new location will be of special importance for nearby residents of the Sister Mary O’Donnell Homeless Shelter and future tenants.
“It will allow tenants to walk downstairs if they need access to family coaches or navigators,” Dow said. “Everyone will be in one central location.”
Homelessness has also played a role in ACAP’s motivations to pursue housing development. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization has operated temporary homeless shelters — the first at UMPI and another current shelter at an undisclosed local hotel.
At the UMPI shelter, ACAP served 21 people from April to June 2020. Since opening the current shelter in January 2021, they have served 167 individuals and helped to obtain housing for 10 of those people.
Although Presque Isle’s recent decision not to renew Homeless Services of Aroostook’s transitional housing lease did not play a direct role in ACAP’s housing ventures, Dow said that the increased need for affordable and stable housing is a driving force in their efforts.
“Our long-term goal is to develop the entire [Edgemont] building into rental housing,” Dow said. “If these apartments prove successful, I would say that we’d definitely want to start looking for more potential properties.”
