Larissa Crockett, named director of the Kennebunkport Heritage Housing Trust in May, talks about the nonprofit’s first project, Heritage Woods, the need for affordable housing in the city and a little about future plans. The trust’s aim is to build 25 homes by 2025; 6, at Heritage Woods, were completed in 2021 and are now all occupied. Photo by Tammy Wells
KENNEBUNKPORT – The Kennebunkport Heritage Housing Trust was formed in the fall of 2018 with a mission: to acquire land and build housing that the people who work here can afford.
The Plan? Build 25 homes by 2025. The first time, the all-volunteer nonprofit was able to build six affordable homes, and today they are all occupied. Five out of six have families with children.
If all goes well, the trust will embark on another project, perhaps two, later this year.
Assisting the volunteer board in this endeavor is Larissa Crockett, who started as the trust’s first chief executive at the end of May.
Crockett is passionate about affordable housing and communities.
“We build homes that working families can afford to buy so they can put down roots in the community,” Crockett said.
That’s especially important in Kennebunkport, he said, where 45 percent of homes are vacant most of the year, according to the 2020 census.
There are more. Kennebunkport’s median home price, calculated in May, was $990,000, Crockett said, well out of reach for most working families and a considerable increase from just two years ago. The Southern Maine Planning and Development Commission released an affordability study in 2021 that showed the median home price in Kennebunkport in 2020 was $715,000, which would have required an annual income of $174,600, when the median income in 2020 was $92,455.
“This is not affordable or achievable,” Crockett said of the numbers.
Crockett, 45, comes to Kennebunkport Heritage Housing Trust after a two-year stint as city manager in Wells and after nearly four years as assistant city manager in Scarborough.
A dozen years ago, she won a seat on the Acton Board of Selectmen after serving on several town committees when she, her husband and three children lived in the rural town near the New Hampshire border.
Now, she’s back to the goal she had when she started pursuing her master’s degree at the Muskie Institute of Public Service: working for a nonprofit organization.
“I wanted to … create a tangible asset,” Crockett said. “Building houses allows a community to remain vibrant, and that seems very tangible to me.”
The first six homes were built in 2021 at Heritage Woods, on 4.6 acres of property acquired with taxes donated by the city of Kennebunkport. The buyers signed 99-year leases on the land, which is held by the trust. Buyers qualify and pay a mortgage and pay property taxes on the homes.
The two 1,688-square-foot, two-story modular homes in Heritage Woods were priced at $297,500. The four single-story, 1,200-square-foot duplex homes are going for about $220,000, a trust board member said in a previous interview. To achieve the established housing prices, the homes were designed to be 76% owner-financed, 19% through grants and foundation contributions, and 5% through community fundraising. To be eligible, Crockett said, prospective buyers had to earn between 80 and 100 percent of the median income in York County.
The trust is considering two potential sites for upcoming projects, Crockett said, which, if purchased, would allow the nonprofit to work toward 10 homes for each site.
He said the agency is looking for a combination of donated land, which can offer tax breaks to the owner, and what it can buy.
The planned date for planning the next stage is this autumn, with the aim of starting in the spring.
There will be decisions to be made, he said, including the size and style of the homes (the ones at Heritage Woods are three bedrooms) and other details. The community has said it wants affordable housing for people who work in Kennebunkport, for city and school workers and others, and for seniors, Crockett said.
Later this month, on August 25, the trust will host a Scoop Off fundraiser, partnering with the Kennebunkport Parks and Recreation Department and its director Stephanie Simpson for the event at the recreation fields near Consolidated School. Participants can vote for the best flavor from a field of six varieties of ice cream. There will be food trucks, a bounce house, music, face painting and more at the event, which starts at 6 p.m.
It’s an opportunity to thank the Kennebunkport community for its support, Crockett said.
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