The Portland (Maine) Housing Authority is planning a 42-unit modular apartment building to provide housing for individuals and families who earn between $18,000 and $45,000 a year. With rents ranging from $535 to $1,000 a month, the $7 million project, Bayside Anchor, will be financed with federal tax credits. Projects from various cities compete for the credits, which a bank then buys and takes a write-off. If the city does not win, the affordable modular housing will not go forward, pressherald informs MHProNews. If the project is chosen, it will begin construction in 2014, and be administered by the Maine State Housing Authority and the city. Approximately 200 structures were demolished in the 1960’s in the Bayside area as part of the city’s Slum Clearance and Redevelopment Administration program. Greg Payne, a development officer with Avesta Housing, who has been acting as the project’s development consultant, says, “The project scored well (in the national competition), but we have no certainty that it will be funded. The tax credits are the linchpin of this project.”
