Maine has the most unbridged islands with year-round inhabitants of any in the nation.

There are 15 in all: Chebeague, Cliff, Frenchboro, Great Cranberry, Great Diamond, Isle au Haut, Islesboro, Islesford, Long, Monhegan, Matinicus, North Haven, Peaks, Swan’s and Vinalhaven. This is a group Maine ought to be proud of – and do everything in its power to support. 

Thousands more are dotted up and down the coast (connected by bridges, privately owned or seasonally or occasionally frequented only), but it’s this “famous 15” that are best known, best loved and have been holding on. All year, they support families, employ workers, sustain valuable traditions and, yes, attract visitors and vacationers by the boatload. 

Why do we say “holding on”? As we reported in some detail last week, the housing shortage that dogs the rest of the state is wreaking particular havoc on Maine’s island communities. 

This isn’t surprising; our islands are often referred to as “canaries in the coal mine” due to their tendency to take various environmental, social and economic hits first and, due to their size and their positioning, to weather any storms (proverbial, too, in this case) the hardest.

Despite the undeniable white-knuckle grip of the housing crisis throughout Maine, arguments in favor of new housing can be and are actively opposed. This editorial board has been vociferous in its criticism of mainland communities that have voted down affordable housing proposals in recent years. 

Editorializing on such a vote last year, we wrote: “If we decide in Maine that we are not interested in living alongside new people, or other people, we will be poorer for it. There is a limit to how far structural advantage can be defended before, in a homogeneous vacuum, it begins to fall apart.”

It would be naive to expect Maine’s islanders to have the slightest interest in a case presented like this. They do not need to see the theory, the reports or the analysts’ projections; the prospect of falling apart – or falling into a new, unrecognizable reality – is all too real.

Nick Battista, chief policy officer for the Island Institute, a Maine nonprofit focused on climate change and islands’ economic activity, summed it up well last week. 

Your average mainland community might be reluctant to connect the dots between the availability of affordable housing and the durability of the local school, Battista noted. On an island, meanwhile, “two units of housing could be the four kids in the school or it could be the housing for the teacher … without which you don’t have a school.”

Our reporting took care to highlight the efforts to build affordable housing by the islands. Volunteer or nonprofit housing associations or committees have worked to avail of state funding, where available, and a handful of islands have pulled it off. Accessing funds, however, is just the start. Market rates available on the mainland aren’t available to the islands, where the cost of development is higher (by 30% on average, according to Battista) and, for obvious reasons, takes more time. 

The most relevant MaineHousing fund, for which all 15 islands are eligible, is “small in scope,” to quote a spokesperson. The cold, hard economic reality facing the islands suggests that the maximum loan amount should be revised up to more accurately reflect that. Deadlines that make sense on the mainland can also be onerous on the islands, and should be reviewed accordingly.

Although (after petitioning for more time to use the funding awarded it) Long Island is currently preparing to create a modular development — constructed off-site and barged over for assembly — two rounds of even a “generous” state grant wasn’t enough to set things in motion right away.

Both Chebeague Island and Peaks Island have succeeded in completing modular projects in recent months. The can-do grit of Maine islanders should be understood to be a safe bet. Last week, a moving letter to the editor from Betsey Remage-Healey of Peaks, who worked on securing the units, was resolutely focused on the future.

“With the availability of an abandoned parish hall and financial support from Maine Housing, three units of year-round affordable housing opened this month. Yes, it took years, but I’m happy to report that all three units are rented to young families with strong Peaks ties,” the letter read. “One child is registered to start pre-K at our island school and another will be born soon.”