The Schoodic Peninsula is facing housing challenges that affect its workforce, senior citizens, low-income populations, and its ability to attract new families and businesses. Through Maine Office of Community Affairs’ Housing Opportunity Program, Hancock County Planning Commission has received funding to create a collaborative network focused on developing sustainable housing solutions that meet the diverse needs of the Schoodic Peninsula while preserving the region’s unique character and supporting its economic growth.
The Schoodic Peninsula Regional Housing Group meets monthly to discuss challenges, share best practices, and collaborate on initiatives to increase housing options on the Schoodic Peninsula. This forum serves as a platform for exchanging ideas, coordinating efforts, and identifying partnership opportunities.
Please reach out to Greg Piduch at gpiduch@hcpcme.org if you have questions, feedback, or possible topics of discussion.
Upcoming Meetings
Meeting #14: TBD
- October 2026, TBD
- Link to meeting
Past Meetings
Meeting #1: Kick-Off Meeting
Date: July 23, 2025, at 10 AM EST
Brief Description: At this meeting, attendees introduced themselves, HCPC provided an overview of their current housing projects in the region and across the county, and attendees discussed meeting formats, topics, attendees to invite, and potential speakers.
Meeting #2: Overview of HCPCs County-Wide Housing Assessment
Date: August 27, 2025, at 10 AM EST
Brief Description: HCPC presented a detailed overview of their county-wide housing assessment and answered attendee questions.
Meeting #3: Housing Development & Preservation Case Studies
Date: September 24, 2025 at 10 to 11 AM EST
Brief Description: Attendees and HCPC staff members shared examples of innovative programs that aim to develop and retain different types of housing, such as affordable year-round workforce housing. Examples included a deep dive on programs carried out by nonprofit Housing Nantucket in Massachusetts and the web platform Placemate.
Meeting #4: Regional Developers Summit Recap and Other Updates
Date: October 22, 2025 at 10 to 11 AM EST
Brief Description: HCPC staff members recapped its Regional Developers Summit that was hosted on Friday, October 17 at the Schoodic Institute in Winter Harbor. Thoughts and feedback was shared from those that attended the summit and there was additional discussion stemming from summit-related topics.
Meeting #5: Pamela Dewell, Island Workforce Housing
Date: November 19, 2025 at 10 to 11 AM EST
Brief Description: Pamela Dewell, Executive Director at Island Workforce Housing, presented and shared information about the Oliver’s Ridge housing project in Deer Isle as well as the latest updates and progress on its second project, Thurlow’s Way in Stonington.
Meeting #6: Maine Redevelopment Land Bank Authority
Date: January 28, 2026 at 10 AM EST
Brief Description: At this meeting, Tuck O’Brien, Executive Director and Jennifer Litteral, Operations Manager of the Maine Redevelopment Land Bank Authority presented on the work that the organization does and services offered to municipalities, and answered attendee questions.
Meeting #7: Great Falls Construction
Date: February 25, 2026 at 10 AM EST
Brief Description: At this meeting, Joey Smith and Julie Curran at Great Falls Construction, in Gorham, discussed the company’s development portfolio, shared project examples and answered attendee questions.
Meeting #8: Erin Aguayo, Vermont Housing Improvement Program
Date: March 25, 2026 at 10 AM EST
Brief Description: At this meeting, Erin Aguayo, Grants Management Specialist with the State of Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development, provided an overview of the Vermont Housing Improvement Program, the programs and services it offers, and answered attendee questions.
Meeting #9: Peter Buchsbaum, Cranberry Isles Realty Trust
Date: April 22, 2026 at 9:30 AM EST
Brief Description: At this meeting, Peter Buchsbaum, a member of the Board of Directors for Cranberry Isles Realty Trust, joined us for a Q&A to discuss how and why CIRT has been successful in providing homes for island residents.
Meeting #10: UMaine BioHome 3D and Midyear Check-in
Date: May 27, 2026 at 10 AM EST
Brief Description: At this meeting, HCPC presented information on and future implications of the BioHome3d developed at the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures & Composites Center. Following, an open discussion was had about forum topics and ideas for the remainder of the year.
- Link to recording
- Link to meeting notes
- Slides
Meeting #11: Sunrise County Economic Council (SCEC)
Date: June 24, 2026 at 10 AM EST
Brief Description: At this meeting, Sunrise County Economic Council staff members Elane Abbott, Program Manager for Broadband and Workforce Housing and Patricia Tilton, Community Planner provided an overview of the housing efforts in Washington County. This included a summary of the recent Washington County Housing Summit and a tutorial of the new Washington County Housing Dashboard. Questions and conversation about other initiatives, including MTIFs, followed.
- Link to recording
- Link to meeting notes
- Slides
Meeting #12: HomePort Site Walkthrough
Date: August 24, 2026, at 8 AM EST
Brief Description: For this month’s housing forum meeting we visited and toured HomePort, the former nursing home facility in Deer Isle that is being converted into 23 apartments for senior and essential workers. This video provides a snapshot of the renovation process and a look inside a completed unit. Units hope to be made available for move-in by the end of 2026. Thank you to all that attended!
Meeting #13: State of Maine Housing Data Portal
Date: September 23, 2026 at 10 AM EST
Brief Description: This month’s forum meeting coincided with the Maine Office of Community Affairs’ (MOCA) informational webinar about the State of Maine Housing Data Portal. This portal provides housing, demographic, and economic data to help Maine communities, housing organizations, and the public assess housing trends, compare geographies, and inform state, regional, and local housing goals.
Resources
Meeting #3: Housing Development & Preservation Case Studies
- Bangor Pre-Approved Building Plans Draft Plans: Draft plans from architecture firm Gawron Turgeon Dillion Architects, P.C. (GTD) for the City of Bangor as part of their pre-approved architectural plans for housing units project.
- Dooryard: A catalog home company serving Maine, offering line of new single family home packages and 2- to 10- unit apartment buildings.
- Frisco Housing Helps Program: A program implemented in Frisco, Colorado, where the Town provides cash for a deed restriction in order to incentivize home buyers and homeowners to deed restrict their properties to maintain and sustain homes for locals working in the community.
- Housing Nantucket: A nonprofit focused on equitable access to rental and homeownership solutions to the year-round community of Nantucket, MA. Their programs encourage, create, and protect quality workforce housing that remains price-accessible for future generations.
- Housing Nantucket Success Stories: A collection of success stories from Housing Nantucket’s multiple programs (Affordable Rentals, Covenant Homes, House Recycling, Lease to Locals) that illustrates the impacts of their programs and how they address current barriers to affordable home ownership and rental properties for members of the year-round community and workforce.
- Island Workforce Housing: Oliver’s Ridge Project: The first project of Island Workforce Housing, a nonprofit working to ensure a vibrant year-round economy by creating affordable workforce housing solutions in Deer Isle and Stonington. This project created 5 duplex buildings, producing a total of 10 two-bedroom apartments, and collaborated with Island Heritage Trust.
- Placemate: A local-housing marketplace for vacation towns aiming to convert housing units into long-term rentals for local employees through innovative local partnerships that provide cash incentives to property owners.
- Strong Towns: A nonprofit media organization and bottom-up movement that tells stories and creates resources to inspire people to take the future of their neighborhoods, towns, and cities into their own hands. Strong Towns has a Housing Toolkit for local leaders and curates an email newsletter about incremental housing.
- Zero Energy Homes: Current Homes for Sale: A webpage listing homes for sale built by Zero Energy Homes, an employee-owned cooperative that builds affordable homes that generate as much energy as they use and are constructed with more than 80% Maine-sourced materials.
Meeting #5: Pamela Dewell, Island Workforce Housing
- Oliver’s Ridge: Information about the Oliver’s Ridge housing project in Deer Isle.
- HomePort: Information about converting the former Island Nursing Home into 23 apartments designed for seniors and essential workers.
- KBS Builders: A Maine-based modular home builder that is producing housing for the Thurlow’s Way project in Stonington.
- Stonington Planning Board Approves 12 Island Island Workforce Apartments: Island Ad-Vantages news story about the new housing project in Stonington and how it is proceeding with the town’s limited water supply.
- Due North LLC – A full-service land surveying company that provides a wide range of surveys that primarily services the communities of Deer Isle, Stonington, Isle Au Haut, and the Blue Hill Peninsula.
Meeting #8: Erin Aguayo, Vermont Housing Improvement Program
- Vermont Housing Improvement Program – the home page for VHIP 2.0, including information on the type of projects funding can be used for.
- VHIP Dashboard – data on the amount of funds granted, the number of units funded, years of affordability ensured, and other metrics from each iteration of the VHIP program.
- VHIP 2.0 Resource Guide – a guide for property owners on how to use the program
- Vermont Homes For All Initiative – information and links about the state’s effort to empower small-scale development, including a ‘Design & Do’ Toolkit, small-scale developer training, and a catalog of pre-permitted home designs.
- NeighborWorks America – a national organization that creates opportunities for people to live in affordable homes, improve their lives and strengthen their communities. NeighborWorks operates the five local Homeownership Centers that help facilitate VHIP programs.
Meeting #10: UMaine BioHome 3D
- BioHome3D – more information about the BioHome from University of Maine’s Advanced Structures & Composites Center.
- BioHome3D Video – a short video providing a tour of the BioHome.
- BioHome3D Fact Sheet – a one-page fact sheet about the BioHome.
- One-Year Update – a press release about the BioHome’s sustainability after one year of outdoor testing.
- Penquis Project – information about a partnership to 3D-print nine homes to create a neighborhood in the Greater Bangor area. A news segment about the project can be viewed here.
Meeting #11: Sunrise County Economic Council (SCEC)
- SCEC Housing page – where to find everything that SCEC is working on related to housing.
- Washington County Housing Summit Dashboard – a direct link to the interactive dashboard.
- Municipal Tax Increment Financing – a link to the Department of Economic and Community Developments webpage on MTIFs.
- Tax Increment Financing 101 workshop – a recording of a TIF 101 workshop hosted by the City of Ellsworth.
- Maine Opportunity Zones – information from the Maine Office of Business Development about the state’s Opportunity Zones.