Chapter 3: Canaan Housing Inventory

Housing Types and Occupancy:

One of our most basic needs is housing. While it is not a town's responsibility to provide housing to its citizens, it is our responsibility to watch out for citizens' health and safety. This means taking action to improve the livability and Affordability of local housing. Also, growth in the community and the tax base depends on new housing. By influencing the rate and location of development, we can ensure that the new housing is adequate in quantity and quality.

Tables 3-1 and 3-2, below, provide a profile of the kind of housing we currently support in Canaan. Table 3-1 shows "Tenancy" -- how the house is occupied -- since 1960 in Canaan. Table 3-2 shows a comparison of Canaan to surrounding towns (Skowhegan is not included because a large town has much different housing character).

1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

Tenancy number % number % number % number % number %

Total housing units 312 100 346 100 560 100 792 100 979 100

Year-round Occupied 216 69 252 73 393 70 569 72 777 79.4

Owner- 180 58 218 63 338 60 474 60 633 81.5

Renter- 36 11 34 10 55 10 95 12 144 18.5

Year-round Vacant 5 2 66 19 47 8 56 7 202 20.6

Seasonal 91 29 28 8 120 21 167 21 135 13.8

Source: U.S. Census

Table 3-1 shows that the relative proportion of year-round, seasonal and rental homes in Canaan stayed relatively stable, even as significant overall growth has taken place. It's quite unusual, particularly that the number of rentals has kept pace. The actual number of rentals almost doubled in the 1980's and continued to grow during the 1990's. The new rental mobile home park could account for this.

Tenancy Canaan Hartland Pittsfield Clinton

1990 2000 1990 2000 1990 2000 1990 2000

% % % % % % % %

Owner-occupied 60 60.9 50 40.4 66 63.5 80 73.2

Renter-occupied 12 18.5 12 24. 24 26.5 14 17.5

Year-round vacant 7 6.8 6 5.4 7 6.5 4 6.9

Seasonal 21 13.8 31 29.9 3 3.5 1 2.4

**

Single-family homes 71 67.2 74 70.9 64 63.3 62 63.7

Multiple Units 2 2.2 8 10.4 21 19.6 7 7.6

Mobile Homes 26 30.3 19 18.7 14 17.1 30 28.7

Source: U.S. Census

Table 3-2 indicates that Canaan's housing mix is fairly unique in the region. We have a much higher percentage of seasonal housing than all except Hartland although seasonal properties declined since 1990 probably due to conversion to year-round homes. Canaan had the same low percentage of rental units as Hartland. as per the 1990 census. However the number of rental properties rose significantly in both communities. But where Hartland has a high number of multi-unit structures -- the general characteristic of rentals -- Canaan has very few. Canaan now has the highest percentage of mobile homes. The combination of a high percentage of camps and mobile homes means that a little over half of the housing in town is of the traditional stick-built, year-round concept. This has implications for the property tax base, as well as the type of people coming to town. Stick-built homes tend to be higher-value and attract higher-income residents (though they are more land-consumptive); camps tend to attract the same income levels, though only as seasonal population.

Mobile homes are a relatively recent phenomenon. The box at right shows that the growth in mobile homes over thirty years far outpaces the growth in "stick-built" houses. That is mostly because they were not as widely available thirty years ago, but also because the price of traditional housing was for many years out of sight. In raw numbers, 394 stick-built homes in 30 years, compared to 280 mobile homes.

Housing Trends Source: Census Data

Over the past 30 years the town has averaged 21 new housing units per year. The number of multi-family units has not risen significantly which is not unusual for a rural community. Seasonal units actually declined between 1990 and 2000. This appears to mirror a popular trend to convert seasonal units into year-round dwellings. Mobile homes now comprise 30% of the Town's total housing stock and like other rural communities new mobile homes just about equal the number of new conventional stick built units constructed per year..

Housing Prices and Affordability:

Housing prices are proportionate to the quality of housing in town. If the housing that is built in town is expensive, it follows that it will also be higher quality. On the other hand, if the town experiences too much high value housing, it could drive away long-time, lower-income residents. Town policy can actually affect the price and quality of housing in many ways. For example by requiring larger lot sizes or establishing a building code, we would encourage higher value housing; If we had liberal policies towards mother-in-law apartments, we might encourage more affordable, but not necessarily lower quality, housing.

The table 3-3 shows how Canaan compares to our neighbors in housing prices and changes over the past twenty years. This is from the U.S. Census, which means that the numbers are only the homeowners estimate of value, not an actual sales price. Also, to make the numbers comparable, the census counts only stick-built, single-family houses on ten acres or less.

Town 1980 1990 2000

Canaan $29,300 $63,000 $74,700

Hartland $27,800 $46,700 $59,800

Cornville $29,400 $63,900 $79,000

Pittsfield $31,300 $56,300 $67,500

Skowhegan $34,500 $60,400 $73,200

Somerset Co. $29,500 $56,400 $70,100

Clinton $34,700 $63,400 $77,100

* "Median" means exactly half of homes are above and half below stated value

Source: U.S. Census

This table shows that Canaan is among the highest home values in the area. The high value of housing could be cause for concern. This usually means that the demand for housing created by new construction is driving up the house prices so that some existing residents may no longer afford to live here. However, balancing that is the fact that the table above does not include mobile homes, which formed a large part of the housing increase in the 1980's. Mobile homes provide an affordable housing option for many families.

Equally as important as rising prices, though, is whether local income rises are keeping up with prices. If not, that would mean houses were becoming less affordable to residents.

According to the census, in 2000, 173 homeowners (out of 551) paid more than 25 percent of their income towards housing (25% is the usual measure of affordability). That compares with 1990, when 45 out of 201 homeowners were paying more than 25 percent. Therefore, in 1990 a higher percentage of homeowners pay "affordable" mortgages, not counting those that live in mobile homes.

The same trends can be seen among Canaan's rental market. Average rent in 2000 was $470 per month, compared with an average in 1990 of $295. In 2000, 40 percent of renters paid more than 1/4 of their income towards housing; in 1990, 33 percent of them did.

While "on average" it may appear that Canaan residents have no problem with affordability, we have to remember that no one is average. In fact, a further breakdown of housing costs shows that 86 homeowners and 59 renters are paying over 1/3 of their annual income for housing costs. These families probably do not feel as if they are in a town with affordable housing.

Housing Conditions:

We can get a better idea of the quality of housing by looking at census data on the character of the housing. For example, we can learn that the average home in Canaan has 5.1 rooms, and that there are 68 nine room houses.

More important are the health and safety conditions. According to the Census, 96 homes in Canaan get their drinking water from a source other than a drilled or dug well, and 61 dispose of sanitary wastes in something other than a sewer or septic system. This raises questions about whether these homes have adequate sanitary conditions.

A significant number of houses lack the "modern amenities." 20 houses in town do not have complete plumbing facilities (sink and toilet). 16 homes do not have kitchen facilities (sink, refrigerator, stove). Some of these may be camps, but 10 year-round homes do not have a telephone.

Over 1/3 of year-round homes in Canaan use wood as their primary source of heat.

Age of Housing:

The inset at right shows a breakdown of the age of houses in Canaan. It shows that about 60 percent of the houses in town are less than twenty years old. This could have been predicted knowing the population explosion we have experienced.

But it also shows that 22% of the houses in town are over 60 years old. This may seem high, but is actually less than the average for Somerset County (27.8 percent) and Maine (29.1 percent). Altogether, we can conclude that Canaan has a relatively "young" housing stock, though with some older, potentially historical, homes in town.

Issues:

Canaan has a fairly healthy mix of seasonal, year-round, owner- and renter-occupied housing. About 60 percent of homes are year-round, owner-occupied.

New housing units over the past 15 years have been built at the rate of about 18 per year.

About half of the new homes in recent years have been mobile homes. The overall proportion of mobile homes has grown to over 30 percent. The proliferation of mobile homes and mobile home parks was mentioned many times in the community survey as one of the greatest problems in Canaan. Overall, survey respondents tallied 10 to 1 against encouraging more mobile home parks, and 2 to 1 against more individual mobile homes.

Traditional forms of housing in Canaan are expensive -- and increasing in price every ten years. Fortunately, average income growth has also grown so that houses are still affordable today for many families, but still, a good 31 percent of the population is paying more than the recommended amount for housing expenses.