The state says Maine needs to add about 80,000 new housing units in the next four years to meet existing demand. And there's a critical need for housing that low- and moderate-income residents can afford.
Rumford-based developer Dooryard said it can help to provide that capacity by siting multiple turnkey modular homes on narrow municipal lots, near infrastructure that's already in place.
Virginia DeRocco, 78, moved into her new one-bedroom apartment in Rumford three months ago with her small dog and cat.
"I've moved around the country a lot in my lifetime. I'm happy with where I am right now. It's perfect," DeRocco said.
DeRocco's unit is one of 8 in a white, two-story apartment building with a farmhouse-style front porch. An identical building sits at the other end of the one-acre parcel on Prospect Avenue, with a duplex in between. In all, 18 families will live here at a reduced rent of $1,275 a month, including utilities.
"It's more than I had expected but I'm not unhappy with it because it includes everything. You don't have to worry about getting an electric bill or who you're going to pay to shovel and so its just takes a lot of stress off me," DeRocco said.
Town Manager George O'Keefe joined other officials at a ribbon cutting for the project in June. The parcel used was acquired as part of a tax foreclosure, so residents pay the town to rent their units. The buildings were financed by MaineHousing through the Rural Affordable Rental Housing Program.
"The things that can happen here are just the same as anywhere else. We can still have and build beautiful homes that look like they've been here for decades," O'Keefe said.
To save money on infrastructure costs Dooryard seeks out so-called "infill" sites such as vacant, abandoned, or underused parcels located in built-up areas with roads, water pipes, and electricity nearby.
It also relies on its modular construction company KBS Builders in South Paris, which can churn out a custom modular project in about 2.5 weeks.
President Thatcher Butcher said the process starts in the front office, where the design team takes Dooryard drawings and figures out how to break them into smaller building blocks using a high-tech saw that tells the operator what grade, species and size of lumber to use.
"He loads it all up and the saw cuts off the materials," Butcher said. "It labels all the materials. It actually labels where one piece intersects with another, so it eliminates measuring out of the process."
Butcher said those building blocks pass through 15 assembly stations that include lifts that allow workers to access all walls of a building block to insulate and seal them and then install electricity and plumbing. Once the blocks are completed they are loaded on a truck and assembled on site.
Dooryard's Melissa McHugh said an 18-unit project in Yarmouth and another in Brunswick are in the pipeline. And more are on the way.
"We just launched a $10 million fund and so the goal for that is to inject $1 million into 10 projects and we're trying to do that over five years," McHugh said.
McHugh said if Dooryard can raise money from private investors the numbers could grow to more than 80 units in 10 communities.
DeRocco said now that she's settled in, her goal is to help others through volunteering as much as her health will allow, and to enjoy life.
"That's my focus right now. I want to take care of myself and live alone and this place will enable me to do that," DeRocco said.
According to Dooryard, the Rumford development has 9 one-bedroom units still available for rent. Its Madison project has 4 apartments vacant, and its Newcastle project is fully leased.
