ROCKPORT—On Tuesday, May 9, a little over a half dozen volunteers worked to push the framing of a 192-square-foot structure in place on the front strip of lawn next to Hospitality House in Rockport.

For some time now, Tia Anderson, executive director of MidCoast Habitat and Stephanie Primm, executive director of the Hospitality House, have been brainstorming ways to collaborate in order to provide sustainable temporary shelter to the number of homeless clients in the Midcoast. 

“Obviously there’s a need for shelter in the Midcoast and for affordable housing in general,” said Anderson, standing next to community volunteers and members from Americorps and Women Build.

Using the parking lot and support of the Nativity Lutheran Church next door, they all pitched in to help to build a prototype shelter on Old County Road.

“The Hospitality House has been using hotel rooms, which they have said is just not a sustainable method for handling the overflow of clients,” said Anderson. “So, we researched some other places in the U.S. that do ‘tiny home’ communities. We went to one in South Carolina, where they developed three levels of supportive and transitional housing. The first shelter is a 192-square foot dwelling. After that, a family transitions to a 350-square foot tiny house and finally, the third step is to move into a rental property.”

Nationally, affordable housing shortage is at a rate of only 29 units available for every 100 extremely low income family renters. In tight housing markets like the Midcoast’s where Maine State Housing Authority statistics show that the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment with utilities included in Rockland is $1,033, it’s more than what 67 percent of Rockland residents can afford.

From May 8 to May 12, Midcoast Habitat for Humanity with their Women Build teams will construct the first of hopefully many tiny accessory structures that could become the prototype for expanded capacity for supportive shelter at the Hospitality House.

Becca Gildred, KCHC’s coordinator for the project pointed to the rolling fields behind the Hospitality House.

“We have nearly six acres we could build these structures on,” she said. “The ideal concept that is modeled around the county is anywhere from six to 15 of these structures in several communities. The whole point is to have a place to sleep, but to work outside the structure and to share family-style meals with others in the community rooms of KCHC, so that there is built in education and peer support that goes along with the temporary housing. It all builds up to sustainable independence.”

Anderson said the 192-square foot accessory structure will have a bed and a bathroom and will ideally fit one to two people.

“It’s adequate,” she said. “I wouldn’t call it a tiny house necessarily, but it’s better than living in a tent or a car temporarily.”

Anderson said the project and the program are still in the planning stages of developing more tiny accessible structures and is optimistic that the community will support it.

Added Primm, “We hope this wonderful collaborative effort will eventually manifest in permanent affordable balanced communities of tiny houses where low- to mid- income as well as elderly people could live in a supportive healthy way making our community and good quality of life attainable and affordable for all.”

Volunteers will be able to work on the prototype structure all week long. One needs not to have any building background at all; just show up and you will be given a task. When the prototype structure is done, it won’t have a working bathroom, but it will allow visitors to look inside and get a real sense of how the structure can fulfill an immediate need.

For more information or to volunteer this week, contact MidCoast Habitat for Humanity at 207-236-6123 or email events@midcoasthabitat.org

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com