BANGOR, ME, September 9, 2025—MaineHousing Director Dan Brennan presented the Stephen B. Mooers Award today to Liza Fleming-Ives, president of the Genesis Community Fund, during the agency’s statewide affordable housing conference.

Brennan praised Fleming-Ives’s two decades of leadership, noting how Genesis grew under her guidance from a three-person, $3 million fund to a team of 11 managing more than $70 million. Genesis has been pivotal in preserving island housing and pioneering Maine’s 13 resident-owned mobile home park cooperatives.

“Whether on the national stage, the regional stage, or here in Maine, you won’t find anyone more talented, tough, or committed to housing than Liza,” Brennan said.

The award, named for the late housing advocate Stephen B. Mooers, honors partners whose vision and action advance affordable housing in Maine.

In accepting the award, Fleming-Ives credited her team, board, and supporters: “This recognition reflects the work of many people who connect communities with the resources they need to build and preserve affordable housing.”

The award was announced at the 2025 Maine Affordable Housing Conference, where more than 500 attendees gathered for panels and speeches. Governor Janet Mills opened the event by highlighting historic state investment — $315 million since 2019 — that has funded 2,100 new homes, with another 3,300 in the pipeline. She also pointed to new initiatives supporting homeless shelters and permanent supportive housing across Maine.

PHOTO: Liza Fleming-Ives and Dan Brennan

ABOUT MAINEHOUSING: MaineHousing is a mission-driven, independent, quasi-state agency created in 1969 by the Maine State Legislature to address the problems of unsafe, unsuitable, overcrowded, and unaffordable housing. A $3.1 billion financial institution with a staff of over 180 people, MaineHousing is governed by a 10-member Board of Commissioners appointed by the Governor. Each year MaineHousing assists more than 90,000 Maine households to buy, heat, rent, and repair their homes while also investing more than $750 million in the Maine economy.