More than 45,000 Mainers live in mobile home communities. An essential part of Maine’s housing landscape, these communities are collectively home to more people than any city or town in the state other than Portland.

Fifteen years ago, Genesis introduced a transformative model to Maine aimed at empowering mobile home park residents. The goal was simple but groundbreaking: help residents secure the affordability of their homes by organizing and cooperatively purchasing the land beneath them.  

ABOVE  Young volunteers helped deliver veggies and sweet snacks to the Healthy Acadia Overnight Warming Center. Healthy Acadia photo Healthy Acadia: Keeping People Safe and Warm In Ellsworth, Maine, where low winter temperatures average well-below freezing, Healthy Acadia operates an Overnight Warming Center from mid-November through April for unhoused and unsafely housed community members. Staff and volunteers offer meals and snacks

ABOVE  In January 2024, Genesis Executive Director Liza Fleming-Ives congratulated residents and thanked partners who collaborated with Genesis to create affordable apartments at Brunswick Landing, a former naval air station in Maine. The project’s first tenants are asylum seekers. Tim Greenway photo Safety and Stability for Maine’s Newest Neighbors By Liza Fleming-Ives, Genesis executive director With fresh snow blanketing the

In groundbreaking work, Genesis community partner Healthy Homeworks creates homeownership opportunities for aspiring first-time homebuyers in downtown Lewiston, Maine, where only 4 percent of residents currently own homes.

Three decades ago, residents of neighboring communities in Midcoast Maine discovered that a local family was living in the hollow of a bridge over the Sheepscot River. What started out as a simple effort to house the family soon expanded as a broader issue came to light—the lack of affordable housing in their rural communities.