Penobscot County commissioners have approved using $2.2 million in American Rescue Plan Funds to allow the local community action agency, Penquis, to build a 35-unit low-income housing complex in Millinocket.
Penquis will also buy and refurbish homes for resale to working families to establish a revolving fund for other similar housing projects.
"We work with individuals or families that are in a pre-1976 mobile home that is pretty dilapidated and we provide a little subsidy and they borrow some money and there are some other sources in there," says Penquis Housing Development Director Jason Bird. "The goal being to replace the home when otherwise they wouldn't be able to afford a home and are on the cusp of homelessness."
County Administrator Scott Adkins says workforce housing is needed for employers that are thinking of coming to the Katahdin region.
"These monies are not enough to solve the county's problems. But it's a good start, a great seed. Enough to cultivate it and with our partners … grow a better future than where it's headed now," he says.
Adkins says Penobscot County received $30 million in federal relief funds and several ventures are being explored to best use the funding to help the region recover from the closure of the Great Northern Paper mill in 2008.
