issues at State School near Paugus Bay

[John Mercier]

LSS is being designed for that...
So it the project going in the south end.

I think the only issue was that it cannot be regulated for sale/occupancy to those under 55 (workforce).

Construction material prices have either returned to normal or are approaching a return to normal except for high-end finishes.

I think the ''issues'' at LSS are the ''secondary requirements''; those will likely be dropped should the project stall for too long.

[Woodsy]

They plan to build 1900 housing units (good luck with that) on the LSS property.. Per the LDS...

"While it is the developer’s intention to build types of housing geared to a range of income levels, Trefethen stressed “this is not Section 8 or low-cost housing.”

Given current construction costs, Trefethen estimated that individual housing units could cost between $200,000 to $350,000."

No doubt those numbers have increased substantially. The developer that won the bid, just had a property go to foreclosure in Manchester.

The LSS is a missed opportunity... especially for low income types.

Woodsy

[John Mercier]

Not sure when that was in the LDS...

But construction material costs have been falling...
Standard construction grade is about half the price of last year.
OSB is also back to normal... Plywood still has a way to go.
Sheetrock, plumbing, and electrical remain high... but proper design can limit those costs.


But a $200K - $350K home would fit into the current working class range for a couple in the area.
Depending on down payment, current debt load, and credit rating... it should fall between about a $65K-115K household income.

[Descant]

"low cost" housing like we did in the 70's is a staring point, but over time these houses get a second story added or other additions and it is no longer low cost to buy for entry level families.

We have mortgage programs for veterans. Why not make it rental assistance? I'm happy to help veterans. And getting more people to be veterans with recently increased service ages and maybe expanded reserve programs? If colleges can have ROTC then community colleges could have similar programs for welders and truck drivers and other trades that are in short supply. And nobody comes out of a CC with $50K in student loans that stifle financial advancement.

[John Mercier]

Originally Posted by Descant

"low cost" housing like we did in the 70's is a staring point, but over time these houses get a second story added or other additions and it is no longer low cost to buy for entry level families.

We have mortgage programs for veterans. Why not make it rental assistance? I'm happy to help veterans. And getting more people to be veterans with recently increased service ages and maybe expanded reserve programs? If colleges can have ROTC then community colleges could have similar programs for welders and truck drivers and other trades that are in short supply. And nobody comes out of a CC with $50K in student loans that stifle financial advancement.

It is less about financing than availability of product. A 5% vacancy in long term rentals is considered the norm... and a healthy supply of homes for sale should be about six months of inventory - Roche has us around 1.4

Lots of people have complained that the builders are not constructing affordable homes rather than higher end homes... but they really aren't doing any speculative homes at this time - only homes that the buyer has contracted to be built and is willing to wait for the contractor to have time to complete.
If someone contracted for an affordable home, the builder constructs it.