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V O L . X X V N O. I I I F E B R UA R Y 4 , 2 0 1 9 14 "I t's clean, it's good, it's safe," Christine Jimenez says of the two-bedroom apartment she shares with her 14-year old daughter in Portland's Bayside neighborhood. "I feel good here." Being on the first floor and close to public transportation are big pluses, as is the garden plot where the two have grown lettuce, tomatoes, spinach, green peppers, radishes and cilantro. "My daughter loves the garden." Jimenez, 51, is originally from New York and has been in Portland for 21 years. Unable to work right now because of knee and hip problems, she lives on Social Security. She moved into the apartment three years ago after a few months on a waiting list at Avesta Housing, a nonprofit provider of affordable housing in southern Maine and New Hampshire. "I lucked out, so I'm happy," she says. Her building, known as Pearl Place, is among 87 Avesta properties contain- ing around 2,400 units of below-mar- ket-rate dwellings. Pearl Place, built in 2008, boasts 60 one-, two- and three- bedroom apartments that are rented for $850 to $1,400 a month to tenants meeting certain income restrictions. Nearby, Pearl Place II added 54 family apartments in 2013. While there are different ways to define affordable housing, it's typically understood to mean paying less than 30% of one's income on gross housing costs, including utilities. Jimenez found an apartment through Avesta relatively quickly as the clock was ticking on her previ- ous lease. But for many the wait can last years, as applicant numbers keep rising, far outnumbering vacancies (4,046 applicants for 373 vacancies in 2018 alone). "e demand far exceeds the supply," says Dana Totman, Avesta's president and CEO. "We tell all new applicants that the best we can prob- ably do is to put you on a wait list. We encourage them to get on as many lists as possible, and to work with us to advocate for affordable housing." With more than 3,000 now on the waiting list, Totman says this year's priority will be to create more afford- able housing for seniors, as well as immigrants and the homeless. "Bigger cities like Seattle, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and F O C U S P H O T O / B E A C H C O M B I N G S E R I E S N O . 8 1 B Y J E N N I F E R S T E E N BO O H E R , W W W. J E N N I F E R BO O H E R . C O M 2019 Book of Lists S P O N S O R E D B Y Y E A R S $19.95 December 24, 2018 VO L . X X I V N O. X X I X www.mainebiz.biz SP ONSORED BY AVA I L A B L E N O W : The 2019 Mainebiz Book of Lists Who's number one? That's what the Maine business community looks for every year in the Book of Lists. Mainebiz researches companies, executives and transactions in many industries and ranks them by various factors. This comprehensive information on hundreds of companies it the ultimate tool for decision makers who are doing business in Maine. Each list can be downloaded in an Excel format, and a digital version of the entire Book of Lists includes online-only data as well as contact information for Maine companies. O R D E R Y O U R C O P Y O N L I N E N O W AT M A I N E B I Z . B I Z / B O L O R O R D E R A D I G I TA L L I S T T O D A Y AT M A I N E B I Z . B I Z / L I S T S REQUESTS VS. VACANCIES FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING AT AVESTA S O U R C E : Avesta Housing, Portland 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 Requests Vacancies/Move-ins 3,067 340 3,348 437 3,562 340 3,784 393 4,046 373 Nathan Szanton, president of Szanton Co., and Amy Cullen, the company's development officer, at the site of a future affordable housing development for seniors in Portland's Bayside neighborhood. P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY B y R e n e e C o r d e s Portland pipeline grows, but demand continues to surge

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