The community we love once was a place working people could call home. However, many nurses, public safety workers, teachers, and tradespeople can no longer afford to live in or near Knox County. This problem affects all of us. A healthy community needs essential workers, and businesses need access to workers to offer needed services.

Our region’s housing crisis cries out for action.

Concerned community members established the MidCoast Regional Housing Trust (MCRHT) as a local nonprofit to serve the “missing middle” — households that earn too much to qualify for other programs but too little to afford home rentals or purchases. MCRHT complements the outstanding work of Homeworthy and Midcoast Habitat for Humanity by extending the region’s housing continuum with perpetually affordable home ownership and rentals.

MCRHT’s founders sought advice from several of Maine’s 11 housing trusts, including the Island Workforce Housing Trust on Deer Isle, the Island Housing Trust on MDI, the Freeport Housing Trust, and the Greater Boothbay Housing Trust.

We all need to be part of the solution to our region’s housing crisis. We thank those who have stepped up to help! Individuals, civic groups, churches, businesses, and municipalities can make missing-middle workforce housing a reality by donating funds or properties.

Go to  mcrht.org for more information. Email info@mcrht.org if you have property, resources, or ideas that could help us.

By supporting MCRHT and telling others about it, you can help make the Knox County area a place where everyone can find a home. 

Mary Beth Leone Thomas is vice president of the MidCoast Regional Housing Trust