Project Home

06/19/2026

Happy Juneteenth Maine!

Project Home is incredibly grateful for the Maine organizations that have been working for decades to tackle the harms caused by slavery, including Maine Inside Out Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition - MPAC and Youth-LED Justice.

06/17/2026

When crisis hit, our supporters helped their neighbors stay housed.

Through the Emergency Housing Fund, Project Home raised $661,736 and helped 313 households impacted by ICE activity remain in their homes.

Behind that number were real people: a woman searching for her detained husband while rent was still due. A college student suddenly responsible for rent and younger siblings. Parents trying to keep children safe while their family’s income disappeared overnight.

This support could not solve every crisis these families faced.

But it did help prevent one devastating harm: the loss of home.

We are deeply grateful to everyone who responded with urgency, compassion, and care.

06/16/2026

Unexpected office visitors today… 🐣

We had some very special guests at Project Home today: baby seagulls!

Researchers stopped by to safely tag the gull chicks nesting on our building as part of an ongoing research effort to better understand local gull populations. And yes — we got to hold them. Yes — they were impossibly fluffy. Yes — everyone completely forgot what they were doing for a few minutes.

Our office may focus on housing stability for people, but apparently we’re also accidental hosts to Portland’s tiniest rooftop residents.

A big thank you to the researchers doing this important work — and to our little feathered neighbors for making everyone’s day.

06/05/2026

Congratulations, Josephine!

Today we are celebrating Project Home staff member, Josephine, who recently graduated from the University of Southern Maine with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

Josephine is a Certified Community Health Worker, a nurse, and also holds a Master’s in Public Health. At Project Home, she runs our Health Outreach Program, where she brings essential health navigation and support directly to families working to stabilize after housing insecurity.

Josephine’s work reflects what makes Project Home’s model so effective: we meet people where they are.

Through in-home visits, community-based outreach, and communication in each person’s preferred language, Josephine helps identify the real barriers families are facing — whether that is healthcare access, transportation, isolation, insurance, prescriptions, or the stress of navigating complex systems while trying to stay housed.

And she does not simply hand someone a referral and walk away. She helps families navigate each step, connecting them to healthcare providers, assisting with insurance applications, supporting medication access, and helping coordinate care across systems that too often leave people to figure it out alone.

This one-on-one, relationship-based support builds trust. It helps people feel seen and respected.

Housing stability and health stability are deeply connected, and Josephine lives that work every day with skill, compassion, and persistence.

We are grateful to have Josephine representing Project Home as a member of the Cumberland County Public Health Council, and we are proud to celebrate this milestone with her.

Way to go, Josephine!

06/04/2026

Nearly half of Mainers cannot afford basic needs.

A new report from the Brookings Institute found that only 54% of Mainers are meeting their basic needs — including food, housing, healthcare, transportation, and other essentials.

This is not about poor choices. It is about a cost-of-living crisis that is pushing working people to the edge.

And housing is often where that pressure becomes a crisis.

When a household is already stretching every dollar, one car repair, medical bill, cut in hours, or rent increase can mean falling behind. And once someone misses rent, the consequences can escalate quickly: eviction, job loss, disrupted education for children, worsening health, and significant barriers to finding housing going forward.

At Project Home, we work with Mainers who are doing everything they can and still cannot keep up with rising costs. Most of our clients are working families who earn too much to qualify for government assistance, but not enough to afford rising rents.

That is why housing stability matters.

Project Home helps households secure affordable housing, stay housed, connect them to healthcare, and help them build financial security — because preventing eviction is not just about rent. It is about stopping a temporary setback from becoming a long-term crisis.

Maine’s affordability crisis is real. The solution has to include keeping people housed before crisis becomes homelessness.

Read the article here:

Nearly one in every two Mainers can't afford to make ends meet, according to a new national study by a nonprofit think tank called Brookings Institute.

06/03/2026

Affordable housing doesn't always have to be new construction. Sometimes, it starts by seeing what’s already here — and imagining what it can become.

Project Home is working with the City of S**o Government to turn the former S**o United Methodist Church on School Street into seven affordable apartments — preserving a historic downtown building while creating much-needed housing.

The redevelopment will include two homes set aside for young adults who have aged out of foster care through the Foster Youth Independence program, along with additional affordable and workforce housing for the S**o community.

This is the kind of practical, creative housing solution Maine needs: using existing buildings, building strong partnerships, and creating stable homes where people can put down roots.

We’re grateful to the City of S**o, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, and community partners helping move this project forward.

Read the article: https://www.pressherald.com/2026/06/02/old-saco-church-poised-to-become-affordable-housing/

06/02/2026

Maine is talking about the affordable housing crisis — and Project Home is part of the conversation.

At a recent gubernatorial candidate forum, candidates were asked how they would help struggling renters right now. The conversation included rent relief, tenant protections, housing supply — and Project Home’s eviction prevention model.

That matters because building more housing is essential, but it will take time. Families are facing housing instability right now.

Project Home helps Mainers secure affordable housing, stay housed, connect to healthcare, and create financial stability — with real support before crisis becomes homelessness.

In 2025, Project Home secured and stabilized housing for 441 households and prevented eviction for another 1,258 households statewide.

We are grateful to see eviction prevention recognized as a necessary part of Maine’s housing response — and we are ready to help build what comes next.

Read the article here: https://mainemorningstar.com/2026/05/28/democrats-running-for-governor-say-what-theyll-do-to-help-struggling-maine-renters/

06/01/2026

Happy Pride Month!

This month — and every month — we celebrate LGBTQ+ Mainers and honor the organizations working to build safety, belonging, visibility, and justice for LGBTQ+ communities.

We’re especially grateful for the work of the Equality Community Center - ECC, MaineTransNet, and GLAAD, whose advocacy, education, community-building, and storytelling help create a more inclusive world.

At Project Home, we believe everyone deserves stable housing, strong support, and the chance to thrive as their full selves.

Learn more and support their work:
Equality Community Center: https://eccmaine.org/
MaineTransNet: https://www.mainetrans.net/
GLAAD: https://glaad.org/

05/29/2026

People need people.

When life falls apart, most of us do not need a lecture. We need someone to help us find the next right step.

That is what Project Home does.

We help Mainers secure housing, stay housed, connect to healthcare, and build financial stability — not with one-size-fits-all solutions, but with real support for real lives.

Because housing stability is not just about a key.

It is about having people in your corner.

We can be their people.

05/22/2026

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