Housing Strategy

Framing the Issues

People who want to live and work in Bar Harbor can't find housing that suits their needs or budgets, which in turn impacts the makeup of the population, the health of the local economy, municipal services, and quality of life. A vibrant and inclusive community has housing options for a variety of people of varying incomes including families, working adults, older adults, renters, homeowners, and others.

The housing issue is also an economic issue. Bar Harbor is home to a diversity of year-round and seasonal employers whose employees consistently struggle to find and secure adequate housing. The lack of housing results in long commute times, labor shortages, childcare challenges, and other related issues. The resilience of Bar Harbor’s economy depends on how well housing needs are addressed in the future.

The Bar Harbor 2035 Comprehensive Plan outlines the big issues facing the community. Some of the issues include the significant need for more housing development, while other issues may limit where and how the town should incentivize development.

What Does this Future Vision Mean for Housing?

We use less land for new development to minimize environmental impacts through encouraging gentle density outside of the downtown and village centers.
There is enough housing to support our year-round community living and working in a variety of industries to sustain a sense of community.
Our residents and workforce are well-housed and live within a reasonable commuting distance of their jobs.
The town’s land use regulations incentivize housing for a diversity of residents and support compact, walkable mixed-use neighborhoods.
Our community will collectively prosper if we cooperate together to balance and sustain growth through land use changes to incentivize housing development and investments in infrastructure improvements.
Regulatory and nonregulatory changes address Bar Harbor's pressing need for more housing while protecting the environment and the health, safety and welfare of the community, and also acknowledging the rights of individual property owners.

Overcoming Challenges

There are many obstacles to overcome to reach our housing goals, but we must ensure our town remains a thriving community. There are many solutions to address these difficult and complicated issues. These solutions will involve a balanced approach comprising of a variety of factors to ensure all bases are accounted for. Below are some questions to start addressing these complicated issues, which will be utilized to frame the three primary housing strategies.

With limited developable land, how and where can we change zoning regulations to allow and incentivize more housing of all types?
With limited public infrastructure, how and where should we prioritize infill residential growth? What are the suitable types of housing to incentivize in the different areas of town?
As the cost of living increases and the cost of construction remains high, how might we change zoning or offer incentives to make it more affordable to built attainable housing for a variety of household incomes?
As the seasonal and year-round housing needs occasionally conflict, how can we equitably support the preservation and production of year-round options while also providing and allowing options for seasonal workers in order to ensure a prosperous economy and community where a variety of people want to live and work?
With limited town revenue, how can we incentivize housing to benefit current and prospective residents without putting undue burden on taxpayers, especially households on fixed incomes.

The strategies below aim to address these questions.

Strategies

The strategies below are described in the Housing Policy Framework and Bar Harbor 2035 Comprehensive Plan.

1. Set clear targets for the number and type of housing needed.

It is critical that the community work together to set targets for a range of new housing unit types, and then track and report on the progress made.

These targets could include projected annual increases in the following areas: housing stock, the percent of employees who live and work in Bar Harbor, housing price points, household incomes, number of bedrooms, mortgage and rent affordability gaps, and the percent of year-round-occupied housing units. This work will be informed by the Bar Harbor Housing Analysis among other housing reports.

Such an initiative will help the town understand the number of rental units and homes needed at various price levels to meet projected demands.

2. Research and implement regulatory and non-regulatory housing solutions.

Investigating potential housing policies, programs, funding mechanisms, and incentives that help to maintain the existing year-round housing stock and generate new units is a core goal for Bar Harbor’s housing future.

Once targets are determined, given the complexity of the issue, the actions to take will likely encompass regulatory changes and non-regulatory initiatives.

Potential regulatory actions could encourage businesses to build new units for their seasonal workforce, decrease and/or eliminate inspection fees and permit fees for certain types of housing, and might offer incentives to owners of existing seasonally occupied dwelling units if they transition them into year-round rental units.

A potential non-regulatory initiative will include ensuring strong partnerships with housing organizations to develop new affordable housing units

3. Collaborate with regional partners to increase the available housing stock.

Ongoing collaboration with regional partners on and off Mount Desert Island will support and build on each other’s efforts to meet the shared goal of increasing the quantity and variety of available housing.

This regional collaboration should be guided by the implementation actions identified at the 2023 MDI Housing Solutions Summit, at future regional housing summits, and through related efforts that come out of the MDI Housing Solutions Initiative.

The ultimate goal is to create a balanced housing market that provides housing options affordable to all incomes across the region.

[Right photo credit to MDI Housing Solutions Initiative]