Services have been cut back at Howell House, a senior housing complex at 44 Sewall St. in Augusta, above, in anticipation of a sale. Residents are worried about dealing with the changes so far, and concerned that the nonprofit’s owners are abandoning its mission. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

AUGUSTA — Residents of a small senior citizen housing complex are making do without services they had come to rely upon that are no longer provided as part of their monthly rent.

Howell House, a 10-unit senior citizen housing complex at 44 Sewall St., is in the process of being sold by the nonprofit group that has owned it since it was created in 1991. As part of the sale, services, which have including cleaning of the units and one meal a day for residents, were halted earlier this month.

That’s left tenants, some of whom may not be physically able to take on those tasks for themselves, looking to fill that gap. The changes have led at least one resident to question whether the nonprofit board of directors should be allowed to sell the property and abandon its mission.

However the board president, Roger Pomerleau, said with inflation increasing costs it’s no longer sustainable for Howell House to continue providing those services on such a small scale. The board developed a plan he says will allow the current tenants to remain in their homes, but without those services.

“The board has chosen the best option to keep Howell House operating with the existing tenants able to stay in their units after a sale,” Pomerleau said. “For Howell House to continue to operate for the current residents, the meal and cleaning services had to be discontinued. Trimming expenses made it possible for the 10 units to be sold to a local company that owns and operates enough apartments to be able to do a lot of maintenance and upkeep of apartments utilizing their own staff. This reduced the cost of operations to allow the current residents to be able to stay and individually contract for any home services they may need.”

Grace Nichols, one of the 10 tenants at Howell House, said tenants are concerned that they don’t have assurances in writing that rent won’t be increased, and that Howell House will no longer be run by a nonprofit with a mission of providing housing to senior citizens.

Nichols said she has reached out to the Augusta City Council, Pine Tree Legal Assistance and Legal Services for Maine Elders, among others, to see if the sale could be stopped, but so far without luck. She also wrote a letter to the editor about the situation.

“We complained about it, thinking someone has to stick up for the elders,” Nichols said. “It’s been run by a nonprofit with their best interests at heart, with services. We would like it to stay as a nonprofit.”

The exterior view of Howell House at 44 Sewall St. in Augusta on Dec. 19. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

When Nichols and others outlined their concerns at a meeting earlier this year, city officials replied that the city has no authority, nor a role, in regulating Howell House and whether its nonprofit board of directors decides to sell the property.

Nichols, 60, said she’s more concerned about the older tenants at Howell House than herself, though she did recently injure her hand and will have a hard time managing without the previously provided services. She said some of them have disabilities and will need to find other service providers at their own expense. And with housing hard to find, it would be difficult for them to move elsewhere.

Nichols and Lorraine Gilbert, who said she was a former board member of Howell House, told Augusta councilors earlier this year they believe Howell House could be run sustainably by seeking cost savings, as well as grant funding to help offset expenses.

Gilbert said when she pointed out ways money could be saved at Howell House, her suggestions were rejected and she was removed from the board.

“I was booted out because I did my job, and because I did my job, I guess I pointed fingers to where I felt there were some unnecessary expenses, especially since they weren’t doing well financially,” Gilbert said. “I’m trying to say Howell House can be saved. It shouldn’t need to be sold.”

Pomerleau said Howell House was not built for subsidized housing, and its current residents would have too much income to stay if the building was converted to subsidized housing. He said the board had found a local landlord — whom he did not name — willing to work within the goals set by the board, and who had enough economy of scale to operate the facility and keep the current residents.

Filings with the state and federal government show Howell House has been losing money most years.

In 2022 Howell House had $144,504 in revenue and $167,222 in expenses, a loss of $22,718. In 2021 revenue fell $6,074 short of expenses. Expenses also exceeded revenue by various amounts in 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2020. Revenue exceeded expenses in 2017, with a net gain of $14,865, and in 2014, by $155,032.

Howell House was created in 1991 according to documents filed with its incorporation as a nonprofit, with the corporation’s sole purpose “to plan for, develop, construct, operate, manage, and maintain a multi-family housing development in Augusta, Maine, for promoting the welfare of elderly families and individuals not less than 55 years old.”

The incorporation papers state if Howell House dissolves, all the remaining assets and property of the corporation would be distributed to another nonprofit organization, or to the federal, state, or local government for a “public purpose,” subject to the approval of a justice of the state supreme court.

The status of the sale process was not immediately available Friday, and city and county deed documents did not yet indicate a sale had gone through.

Pomerleau said the board of Howell House will meet with Maine charitable foundation experts to establish a plan to give all property sale proceeds, as required by law, to a qualified Maine nonprofit “that would share the goals of the board” once the sale has taken place.