Story by Leslie Bridgers/ Staff Writer Date 2015, photo by Whitney Hayward/Staff Photographer; 1924 photo from the Collections of the City of Portland – Planning and Development, Courtesy of www.MaineMemory.net item #37770 F ifty-seven feet northeast of a stone monument on the corner of Congress and North streets is a certain lot of land on […]

C ities across the country are experiencing rising rents and shortages of affordable housing, similar to what Portland is going through. The trend, which also reaches other countries, is at least partly the result of an economic and social shift as people seek to live in urban neighborhoods, whether to reduce transportation costs or enjoy […]

Developer Josh Benthien in the Clapp Memorial Building. The 1920s-era, seven-story office tower diagonally across from Monument Square is being converted into apartments. Photo by Whitney Hayward/Staff Photographer Story by Edward D. Murphy/ Staff Writer J osh Benthien knows the difficulty in finding housing in downtown Portland for middle-income earners, a lesson he learned first-hand […]

A prime solution to the rental crunch – build more living units – often draws opposition from critics worried that the city will lose its small-town feel.

Developers get incentives in exchange for building a percentage of middle-income units, a strategy that has had mixed results in other cities.

Story by Kelley Bouchard/ Staff Writer Photos by Whitney Hayward/ Staff Photographer C hris and Jessie Kessler know just how precious apartments have become in the Mill Creek and Knightville neighborhoods, just across the Fore River from downtown Portland. After living in a Cottage Street rental for four years, the Kesslers received notice in July […]

Well-off newcomers transform some city neighborhoods with their desires for improved housing and ‘hip’ businesses, but that also can make it too costly from some long-timers to live there.

Story by Kelley Bouchard/ Staff Writer Photos by Whitney Hayward/ Staff Photographer A t first they called him crazy. Now “lucky” is the adjective that Doug Sanford hears most often when people talk about his multimillion-dollar transformation of the former Biddeford and WestPoint Stevens textile mills. Sanford accepts the lucky label because his gamble on […]

Source: MaineHousingInteractive: Christian MilNeil W hen it comes to housing, the term “affordable” has long been used as a euphemism for low-income or subsidized. But everyone, no matter their salary, has a limit to what they can reasonably afford in monthly housing costs. That limit was defined by U.S. National Housing Act of 1937 as […]