What's happening
Project progress, events, grants and island housing news. Subscribe by RSS or follow us on Instagram.
Summer Reception 2026: inside the two newest rentals at 217 Main Street
An open house at 217 Main Street, then cocktails at the Pingree Boathouse at Iron Point. The island got its first look at the two rental units opening by the end of the year.
Open house on Fish Hawk Road
Saturday, July 18, 4–6 p.m.: a walk through one of the two homes NHSH has built on Fish Hawk Road, the first of the South Shore Road homes.
Maine beat its 2025 housing production goal. Islands still need their own tools.
The state permitted 7,499 homes in 2025 against a 6,900 target. Only 13% were affordable, and the island-specific MaineHousing program that funded NHSH's rentals has had no new round since 2022.
Maine extends its affordable housing tax credit to 2036 and refills the rural programs
Governor Mills signed a ten-year extension of the Maine Affordable Housing Tax Credit, and April's supplemental budget put more than $30 million back into the Rural Rental and Affordable Homeownership programs that ran dry last summer. The housing bond, though, failed.
Two new year-round rentals under construction at 217 Main Street
With all nine NHSH rentals occupied, two more units are going up in the village, targeted to open by the end of 2026. The rental waitlist is open and reviewed on a rolling basis.
174 Main Street goes to its next year-round family
When the owner of this covenanted downtown home decided to sell, NHSH used its repurchase option and put it back into the drawing. It is under contract to a new year-round buyer, closing in December.
Press Herald: on Maine islands, housing shortages threaten community survival
A statewide look at how Vinalhaven, Chebeague, the Cranberry Isles, Monhegan and North Haven are fighting to stay year-round, and what happens on the islands that don't.
Bangor Daily News: they helped create a Maine island's housing shortage. Now they're easing it.
The BDN visited North Haven as the first South Shore Road homes neared completion: summer residents donating land and money, a lottery for year-round buyers, and a boatyard renting tiny homes to keep its crew.
A full renovation at 212 Main Street
A cozy two-bedroom rental gets a top-to-bottom renovation, joining the accessory unit added earlier, funded by MaineHousing's island program with a 45-year affordability covenant.
Public drawing at the Town Office: three homes go to year-round buyers
Applications ran February 10 to March 10. On March 26, 2025 NHSH held a public random drawing at the North Haven Town Office for two new Fish Hawk Road homes and 174 Main Street, and seeded a waiting list.
Our Island Home: a $1.6 million campaign for nine homes
The largest fundraising effort in NHSH's history matches the MaineHousing grant, subsidizes the South Shore Road homes, funds energy help for low-income households and staffs the work for three years.
Working Waterfront: North Haven's affordable housing in high gear
An $840,000 MaineHousing grant, Genesis Fund gap financing, three apartments plus an accessory unit going all-electric, and 18 applicants for the first three. The Island Institute's paper checks in on NHSH.