Older Maine couple found their housing ‘miracle’

An older Maine couple that placed an ad in local papers seeking “a small miracle” before they became homeless has found a new home.

Jon Hough and his partner, Lin Brown, had been looking for housing ever since they moved into a short-term rental in Yarmouth six months ago. But they still hadn’t found anything affordable as they approached the end of their lease in May.

Hough placed the ad in a last-ditch attempt to find housing. As a result, he said, he got dozens of calls, including one from a person whose mother passed away and offered to rent them her empty home, which is near their current rental.

“They reached out to me,” he said. “We never would have been able to find this or many of these other places that people have called about if we just tried on our own to reach out to people. It’s because they saw our ad or some other post.”

Hough is grateful for everyone who got in touch to help. Brown suffered a stroke nearly three years ago and they worried she’d lose her home health aide if they didn’t have a place to move into. For the long-term, Hough said he’s trying to find subsidized housing.

This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public .