As the John T. Gorman Foundation directs its efforts to help children and families secure and maintain stable housing, it is also investing in solutions to Maine’s housing shortage through Program-Related Investments (PRIs).

Drawn from the Foundation’s investment portfolio, PRIs provide critical support for partners and projects aligned with the Foundation’s mission and priorities. These below-market-rate loans offer flexible capital with fewer restrictions than traditional financing. Foundation investments can also help leverage additional funding from other sources, expanding the reach and impact of each project.

Just as importantly, PRIs allow the Foundation to extend its support sustainably. As partners repay these investments, the funds are recycled into future projects that strengthen communities across Maine.

Last year, the Foundation worked with partners to make three PRIs totaling $2 million, advancing critical projects across the state — including an innovative partnership that preserves affordable housing and creates future opportunities for homeownership in Bangor.

Preserving Affordable Housing at Cedar Falls

When private equity investors were poised to purchase Cedar Falls Mobile Home Park in Bangor, the families living there faced the possibility of steep rent increases — or even losing their housing altogether. While residents owned their mobile homes, they rented the underlying lots, leaving them vulnerable to changes in ownership.

Thanks to a new Maine law requiring residents to be notified of a pending sale, they had the opportunity to purchase the property themselves — if they could secure the financing needed to make a successful counter offer.

The Foundation joined Genesis Community Loan Fund, Cooperative Development Institute, the City of Bangor, Bangor Savings Bank, and MaineHousing to make it possible. A $500,000 low-interest loan from the Foundation, provided through Genesis, helped close the financing gap, while a $260,000 grant bought down interest costs on other debt, helping keep lot rents affordable for residents.

Today, a resident-owned cooperative owns the park, preserving 129 affordable homes and creating the potential for 82 additional units. Plans are in development to build new homes there to create homeownership opportunities for graduates of Bangor Housing’s Moving Families Forward program.

In the months since, this multi-sector partnership and approach has gained significant attention as a replicable model for other mobile home communities facing similar transitions.

Leveraging Resources to Support Affordable Housing

Cedar Falls is not the Foundation’s first PRI focused on housing. Over the last several years, the Foundation has looked for ways to creatively use our resources to help address the state’s need for affordable housing.

In 2019, the Foundation partnered with Genesis to create a fund that enabled local non-profit partners in Lewiston to acquire properties needed to develop safe, lead-free affordable housing. Those acquisitions helped position the city to secure a $30 million HUD grant that has helped bring hundreds of new housing units and increased economic opportunity to Lewiston’s Tree Streets neighborhood.

Then in 2022, the Foundation made a PRI to Welcome Home Downeast, an initiative to acquire and renovate homes for workers in Washington County, where affordable housing options are especially limited. The goal of this initiative was to not only increase affordable housing and build wealth and assets for families, but to attract and retain year-round workers who are greatly needed to sustain economic development in the area.

“The Foundation is committed to helping families navigate Maine’s housing crisis, a complex issue that is beyond their control,” said Foundation President and CEO Nicole Witherbee. “What’s exciting about these PRIs is that they allow us to sustainably contribute to collaborations that are addressing the housing shortage itself — the underlying challenge making it harder for families to thrive.”