Project Home

An empty church building. A housing shortage. A creative partnership.

Project Home is working with the City of S**o Government on a proposal to turn the former Methodist church at 12 School Street into seven affordable apartments.

The plan includes homes for young adults aging out of foster care, affordable units for local workers, and a shared multi-purpose space for residents, nonprofits, and the city.

This is what housing solutions can look like: public-private partnership, adaptive reuse, and a commitment to making sure more Mainers have a stable place to call home.

We are grateful to the City of S**o for its vision and partnership — and excited about what this historic building could become.

Read the article below.

https://sacobaynews.com/developer-seeks-funding-to-turn-former-saco-church-into-affordable-housing.htm

The housing crisis in Maine is a math problem — and the numbers don’t add up.

A typical Maine family of four renting their home earns about $36,000 a year — that's roughly $3,000 a month.

Average rent? About $1,500 a month.

That leaves just $1,500 for everything else: food, childcare, gas, utilities, car repairs, healthcare, school needs, and every unexpected emergency life throws at a family.

And feeding a family of four can cost about $1,400 a month.

That is not a budgeting problem.
That is impossible math.

At Project Home, we intervene before families fall into homelessness — helping working Mainers stabilize their housing, improve their health, and build long-term financial security.

This crisis is not caused by personal failure.
It is caused by numbers that simply do not work.

And impossible math requires collective action.

May is National Foster Care Month.

At Project Home, 20% of the people we serve are young adults, ages 18–24, who have aged out of the foster care system.

Without the right support, that transition can become a direct pipeline into homelessness. Nearly half of foster youth experience homelessness within one year of leaving care.

Project Home is working to disrupt that pipeline by helping these young people secure stable housing and build the support they need to move toward independence — from health care and employment to education, budgeting, life skills, and community connection.

In partnership with the Portland Housing Authority, and with advocacy and leadership from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, we’ve helped house 40+ young adults with foster care experience — with zero evictions.

Because aging out of foster care should not mean aging into homelessness. 💛