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.
A former lawmaker is looking to create a large community of manufactured homes on more than 60 acres in Maine’s capital city.
Former state Sen. Matthew Pouliot, a real estate agent and developer who once represented his home city of Augusta and surrounding towns as a Republican in the Maine Legislature, recently bought the property that could host the project. The parcel sits north of Western Avenue between Leighton and Prescott roads, roughly 10 minutes from downtown Augusta.
Pouliot has not yet formally proposed his project, so many details are uncertain. But he wants the modest, owner-occupied homes to be attainable for people making up to 100 percent of the area median income for Augusta, which is just under $70,000 for a two-person household. It would be built in stages for 40 homes in the first phases and room for a few hundreds.
“It’s a matter of whether there’s an appetite in the community for that much,” Pouliot said.
The project, which requires local approval and years of development, would be an ambitious use of pre-built homes that rival the quality of stick-built homes and can be built far cheaper. Under Pouliot’s vision, owners would buy the homes but not the land around them.
That could cut down on costs and help Augusta chip away at Maine’s goal of adding as many as 84,000 more housing units to accommodate its current and future residents by 2030. It would be Augusta’s first manufactured housing community in more than 20 years, Pouliot said.
In 2007, the city approved Kennebec Valley Estates, which was slated to be a 67-unit addition to Riverside Mobile Home Park, which is now called Riverside Drive Park. However, the developer decided not to build the expansion after it was given the green light, Augusta Planning Director Matt Nazar said.
Pouliot said his passion for increasing the state’s housing supply developed from his time serving on the Legislature’s housing committee.
“Getting a front row seat to the statistics was horrifying and part of the reason why I didn’t run again,” Pouliot said.
The units in Pouliot’s project could range in size and style, from duplexes to single-family modular homes, but ideally wouldn’t be larger than 1,500 square feet and have no more than three bedrooms, he said. The manufactured homes would speed up construction time.
“The average builder in Maine builds 1.5 homes a year, and we’re proposing to try to do up to 40 in a year, but that’s because we’re not going to be building the homes,” Pouliot said.
Ideally, Pouliot said the development would function similarly to a typical mobile home park, where residents own their homes, which sit on fixed foundations, but rent the land they sit on for a small fee. Residents of any age could live there as well, “because it’s not like just folks who are 55 and older need housing,” Pouliot said.
Aside from houses, the development could host a community building for residents who want to hold large events, and a storage facility. Pouliot would also like to reserve some of the land to be outdoor recreation space, such as walking trails.
Pouliot said he drew inspiration for the project from the State Manufactured Homes development in Scarborough. He hopes to submit an application for the project this fall and, if it’s approved, construction could begin next spring.
Multiple city leaders in Augusta, including Nazar, City Manager Jared Mills and Economic Development Director Keith Luke agreed that welcoming more housing is a top priority for the city this year.
While Mark O’Brien, Augusta’s mayor, doesn’t yet know many details about the project, he’s “optimistic,” as he believes Pouliot is committed to addressing Maine’s housing needs but will “approach this in a thoughtful way.”
“Augusta needs additional housing across the spectrum of types and affordability, so I am encouraged when someone aims to address our shortage in a positive way,” O’Brien said.
