BRUNSWICK – Hundreds of homes in Brunswick and Topsham – built on U.S. Navy land and occupied by Navy personnel and their families – could find their way into the region’s housing market.
However, until the government completes its plans for Brunswick Naval Air Station, neither the Navy nor GMH Communities Trust, a private company managing the homes, can say what will happen.
On Wednesday, GMH canceled a ceremony in Topsham to mark the demolition of 52 aging military homes, which were to be replaced by new houses.
That construction is on hold, said Kathleen Grim, a spokeswoman for GMH.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen,” Grim said. “This process is just beginning.”
The Pentagon has proposed reassigning 85 percent of the Navy base’s active-duty personnel, sending more than 2,300 men and women from the local base to Jacksonville, Fla.
Only about 400 active-duty Navy people would remain in Brunswick, according to revised numbers released Thursday by the base. Also remaining would be 575 civilians and 1,151 reservists, mostly part-timers.
The loss of so many people would shake up the region’s housing market, especially if the military homes become available to civilians.
The Navy has 727 houses in Brunswick and Topsham. Almost 200 of them – single-family homes and duplexes – were built in the past four years at an expense of $25 million.
Meanwhile, the region is in need of affordable houses, said Dan Simpson, spokesman for the Maine State Housing Authority.
The federally defined Brunswick housing market – made up of 21 towns including Durham, New Gloucester, Pownal and Bowdoinham – is about 1,000 homes shy of demand, Simpson said.
If a portion of the base housing became available to the civilian market, it could act as a pressure valve.
In 2003, 857 houses sold in the Brunswick area, Simpson said. The average price was $167,000.
Any sale of the Navy housing would require navigating a complicated bureaucracy.
First, the fate of the base needs to be settled.
Neither the Navy nor GMH plans to act until late this year, after the decisions of the Base Closure and Realignment Commission, Congress and the president.
Then, there would have to be a determination that the Navy had more houses than it needs.
“This housing was meant for military personnel,” said Rich Howard, the base’s housing director. The first duty of Howard’s office and GMH is to ensure that everyone who is stationed in Brunswick has a place to live, he said.
If the Navy decided it had extra homes, it could sell them. GMH would have to agree, though. And they could be rented.
The agreement between GMH and the Navy, signed on Oct. 31, 2004, keeps the land in the hands of the Navy but leaves ownership of the buildings to the trust company. Neither may sell unless both agree.
The agreement leaves the door open to such changes, Howard said. That’s a long way away, though.
“Everything is on hold until base closure is over,” he said.
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