CPI: Nonprofit making Housing Investments

 In August, we held a grand opening for a new 5-person licensed group home in Lewiston designed by Scott Simons Architects and built by HE Callahan. The new group home, Lewiston Ridge, replaces three houses in Lewiston we had rented for over twenty years. The big benefit, of course, is converting rental payments to permanent investments. In a difficult economy, this will help us control our long term housing costs.

  Lewiston Ridge is, of course, an energy-efficient home, reducing our utility costs from the three rental properties significantly. We also built the home beside our12-bed nursing home on Old Lisbon Road to save on staffing costs and provide close and professional nursing supervision. Because adults living in the new home require handicap access, the new home was designed with full accessibility. A new home with lower energy costs, better staffing and full handicap access is a win-win-win!

 Providing adequate care for the growing numbers of seniors at CPI is becoming more and more important. Considering the regular maintenance and upkeep all homes require, we are seeking ways to provide better, more cost-effective solutions. Projects like Lewiston Ridge and the Brightbuilt Retrofit will serve as a benchmark for improving our residential care programs while providing long-term savings for our nonprofit, and consequently, Maine taxpayers.  

 How did CPI get started providing housing to adults with developmental disabilities? When Maine closed the Pineland Center in 1996, we joined New Hampshire and Vermont as the first states in the nation to eliminate large institutions for people with developmental disabilities. The result was a community-based housing system run by nonprofits like CPI. The biggest challenge of moving to a community support system is managing the costs of maintaining multiple homes while providing quality care for many types of disabilities with medical and age-related complications.

 At CPI, there is nothing we value more than independence. That ideal applies to the people we support and the operation of our organization. We rely on Maine Care funding to pay for our support services, but we are challenged more and more every year to find creative ways to save money on one of our biggest costs –housing – and remain as independent as possible.  

 The Brightbuilt Retrofit is cutting edge green technology we are hoping to replicate in the other homes we own. Making energy-saving investments in older buildings where we live and work – saving energy during the coldest months – will reduce one of our biggest expenses. The Brightbuilt Retrofit, like Lewiston Ridge, is an important step we can take now to ensure our existence in the future.