History of Comfortably Home

Bath Housing created Comfortably Home in 2015 with the belief that safe, stable housing is critical to the health and wellness of a community. Like many housing authorities across a state dealing with an increasingly aging population, Bath was facing a housing shortage. Older adults and individuals with disabilities were waiting more than two years for housing. Meanwhile, it was clear that people preferred to stay in their own homes but could no longer keep up with maintenance—creating potentially serious health and safety issues.

Bath Housing recognized the need to innovate housing solutions for the region.  Executive Director Debora Keller realized her organization was already armed with the resources to lay the foundation for change—a skillful maintenance department and a caring, dedicated staff.

With a grant from the John T. Gorman Foundation, Comfortably Home launched in October 2015 with the goal of making home a safer place to stay for as long as possible.  The next year, the Gorman Foundation supported Bath Housing in replicating the model with four other Maine housing authorities.

Now funded by MaineHousing, there are multiple agencies across the state that have launched similar programs.  Click here for more information about MaineHousing’s efforts to support this work. MaineHousing aggregates impact data from all programs it supports;  click here for the 2023 Program Brief.

Comfortably Home continues to offer safety checks, accessibility modifications and minor repairs to eligible participants so they can continue living safely and comfortably at home.