Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
An organization that offers affordable housing and rental assistance to the Augusta area will hold a belated grand opening for a new apartment building that adds dozens of units to Maine’s capital.
The Augusta Housing Authority will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony on Wednesday at Sturgeon Landing Apartments on Park Street, which has 32 one-, two- and three-bedroom units designed to serve working families in the area, according to the organization.
The new project launched as the state is working toward adding as many as 84,300 new homes by 2030 to meet future need and make up for years of underproduction, the Maine Housing Production Needs Study found. The study also noted that the six-county region that includes Augusta has seen a decline in rental units, which likely worsened the state’s workforce challenges.
The nearly $11 million project was paid for with a mix of local, state and federal funding, including the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, Augusta’s Tax Increment Financing Program and more.
The development “demonstrates what can be achieved when an entire community, from city government to those who benefit from the housing, comes together as one to remove barriers and support affordable housing development in response to the housing crisis in Maine,” said Norman Maze, executive director of the Augusta Housing Authority.
Rents for one-bedroom units range from $706 to $977, while two-bedroom and three-bedroom units are rented for $851 to $1285 and $985 to $1669, respectively. Prices depend on a family’s income and whether they have a rental subsidy, according to Maze.
Eight apartments have a Project-Based Voucher attached to the unit, meaning residents of those units don’t have to get a rental voucher as long as they meet income requirements set by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Maze said.
Construction on the property began in January 2023 and the housing authority received a certificate of occupancy in March 2025. In May, residents began moving in and the units were fully occupied by June, Maze said.
“The demand for this housing in our community is apparent from the fact that all 32 units were fully occupied in a little less than a month and a half after we began leasing up,” Maze said.
Aside from on-site parking, the building offers residents shared laundry facilities, a playground and a shared community room. Each unit also has heat pumps for heating and cooling.
