Portland Man Floats Idea Of Using Old Cruise Ship For Homeless Shelter,Affordable Housing

Can an Old Cruise Ship Solve Affordable Housing Needs? If someone asked you for ideas to help a city meet the housing needs of low-income workers and homeless people, what would you suggest?

A Portland, Maine entrepreneur has come forward with an unusual idea: Convert an old cruise ship into a floating neighborhood and dock it in Portland Harbor. Ken Capron, a former CPA and Microsoft Engineer who founded a nonprofit called Memory Works, is the visionary behind the project. He is seeking grant funding for a feasibility study to see if it would be possible purchase a retired cruise ship for around $20 million that would provide 100 housing units on each of four or five decks along with office space social services and job training programs. New England Cable News quoted Capron as saying, "We would give them all the resources they need to succeed, and we would put it right there on the ship."