HOUSING TRENDS IN HANCOCK COUNTY:

2009 UPDATE

This handout presents the latest available data on housing conditions and needs in Hancock County.   The data show that the county has some serious housing needs.

• Rental housing prices remain high in relation to income.  Maine State Housing Authority data indicate that in 2008 the average monthly rent for a two bedroom apartment in the Ellsworth Labor Market Area (LMA) was $842.  This represents an affordability index of 0.84 for someone with the median renter household income.  The index compares rental costs to income.   An index of 1.00 or greater would be affordable.   A number less than 1.00 is not affordable.

• The 2008 rental affordability index compares to 0.90 in 2003, 0.86 in 2004, 0.82 in 2005, 0.81 in 2006 and 0.84 in 2007.   Average rents increased by 46.7 percent between 2000 and 2008 while median renter household income increased by 18.7 percent.  Overall, rents are becoming less affordable.

• In 2008, the average monthly rent in Maine as a whole was $847 and the rental affordability index was 0.87.   Hancock County, with an index of 0.84, is slightly less affordable than the state average.

• In 2008, the median home sales price for the Ellsworth LMA was $179,000 with an affordability index of 0.76.  This compares to an index of 0.69 for both 2006 and 2007, 0.66 for 2005 and 0.72 for 2003 and 2004.

• While there was a decrease in median home sales price in the Ellsworth LMA from $195,000 in 2007 to $179,00 in 2008,  there was an overall increase in sales prices of 65.7% between 2000 and 2008 while median household income increased by 21.8 %. 

• These figures don’t show the extent of housing purchase affordability in 2008 in individual towns.  Orland and Bucksport were the most affordable with indices of  1.22 and 1.10 respectively.  Deer Isle (0.36) and Mount Desert (0.40) were the least affordable.

• The statewide median home sales price was $178,000 and the state home purchase affordability index was 0.79.  Statewide, prices relative to income were marginally more affordable than  in Hancock County.
  

• Sorrento (1.18), Hancock (1.02) and Mount Desert (1.01) had the most affordable average rents. The least affordable were Stonington and Blue Hill (both at 0.66), Trenton (0.75)  and Penobscot (0.76).

• According to a January 2009 survey by the Maine State Housing Authority, there were nineteen homeless persons in Hancock County.  This figure masks the full extent of homeless people since some “couch surf’ (sleep on the couches of friends and family) or take similar measures to find shelter while still facing the risk of becoming homeless. 

• The Ellsworth Emmaus Shelter had 22 beds and an average occupancy rate of 83 percent in 2008.

• Statewide there were 871 people reported as homeless in 2009.   Thirty-two percent of the homeless had a chronic disability, 19 percent were domestic violence survivors, 16 percent had severe and persistent mental illness and 13 percent experienced a recent apartment eviction.  Only 5 percent were employed.  (These categories overlap).

• It costs an average of $1,348 more over a six-month period to provide services for a homeless person than it does to provide housing services, this is based on costs such as health care, use of ambulances and emergency room visits.

• According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New England, the mortgage foreclosure rate in Maine for the third quarter of 2008 was about 0.91%, compared to 0.71 % in New England and 1.5 percent nationally.

• As of July 2009, there were 29 foreclosed properties in Hancock County, which accounted for about 2.9 percent of the 742 foreclosures in Maine.  Only 1 percent of the homeless in Maine in January 2009 reported foreclosures as a reason for being homeless.

• There is a backlog of homes awaiting weatherization and other basic repairs.  As of July 2009, there were 1,824 Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program households in Hancock County on the high energy user list.  Of these households 557 were mobile homes.

• There were also 38 homes on Washington Hancock Community Agency’s (WHCA) home repair waiting list and 40 homes needing roof repair.

• Between October 2007 and July 2009 WHCA weatherized 48 homes and replaced 32 heating systems and six oil tanks.  It repaired twelve homes through its home repair program; three of which were elderly hardship grants, five were emergency repairs, and four were brought up to HUD’s home quality standards.