The Need | Hancock County Habitat for Humanity

The need is great in Maine as demonstrated by these facts obtained from the Maine State Housing Authority’s “Maine Homeownership Facts 2010” document:

Consistently rated as having among the oldest housing stock in the nation, Maine is currently ranked 7th in this category. 24% of all owner-occupied houses in the state were built before 1940 (95,349 of 394,392 homes); factor in rental units and the number jumps to nearly 27.5% built before 1940.
From 2000 to 2010 the median house price in Maine increased 50.1% far out-pacing the median income, which only increased 27.5% over the same 10-year period.
Based on the median home price in Hancock county of $174,950 in 2010, a household would have had to have earned $47,037 per year to afford the average home; 58.7% of the Hancock’s population could not afford the average home at the time.
Of 16 counties in Maine, 12 had a lower/more affordable median home price than Hancock.
Of 17,743 total homeowner households, approximately 15.5% (2,760) earned between 50+% to 80% of the area median income (AMI), ~9% (1,631) 30+% to 50% of the AMI, and ~8% earned 30% or less than the AMI. [We generally look at applicants in the 30% to 60% range.]