By Trevor McNally
A hard truth that the people of Maine are coming to grips with is the steadily increasing cost of living. In fact, Maine had the third highest increase in rent across the country in 2019, according to Apartment Guide’s recently published annual report.
Walk down the streets of Portland, our largest city, and you’ll marvel at the number of high-rent condominiums being built. Poll any stranger on the street and they’ll tell the same story: their rent is too high and their wages are too low. On top of all this, Maine is staring in the face of an impending workforce crisis that will only make matters worse.
And according to the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition, only about 52 available affordable housing units exist for every 100 Maine families earning 30 percent or less of the median income.
But there is some hope on the horizon. On February 12, Governor Janet Mills signed a bi-partisan affordable housing bill into law. The legislation aims to double the current rate of new affordable housing production by creating the Maine Affordable Housing Tax Credit program- a refundable credit which would be administered by the Maine State Housing Authority. The credit will be available to individuals or corporations who invest in affordable housing.
The program will be capped at $10 million per year for eight years, with portions earmarked for senior and rural housing. It will also leverage an equal amount of federal low-income housing tax credit dollars.
“As I have said many times, if people do not have a good, safe place to call home, very little else that government does really matters,” says Senator Matthew Pouliot, R-Kennebec, who co-sponsored the legislation created by House Assistant Majority Leader Ryan Fecteau, D-Biddeford. “Now that Maine is the oldest state in the nation, the lack of affordable housing is especially crucial to our seniors. I co-sponsored this bill with Representative Fecteau to help create 1,000 more affordable housing units in Maine over the next eight years. The bill will make it possible to bring new units online while at the same time preserving the availability of existing units.”
And in a separate but equally encouraging development, U.S. Senator Susan Collins, R- Maine, the Chairman of the Housing Appropriations Subcommittee, announced on February 13 that nineteen Housing Authorities in Maine will receive more than $9.5 million through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Public Housing Capital Fund Program.
HUD provides Public Housing Capital Fund Program grants to Public Housing Authorities annually for the development, financing and modernization of Public Housing properties, and for management improvements.
The funding will be allocated as follows:
Van Buren Housing Authority will receive $239,767; Fort Fairfield Housing Authority will receive $181,715; Portland Housing Authority will receive $2,481,393; Presque Isle Housing Authority will receive $502,270; Lewiston Housing Authority will receive $982,254; Brunswick Housing Authority will receive $438,463; Auburn Housing Authority will receive $373,273; Waterville Housing Authority will receive $528,890; Housing Authority City of Bangor will receive $1,487,378; Sanford Housing Authority will receive $279,990; Old Town Housing Authority will receive $184,020; Bath Housing Authority will receive $232,353; South Portland Housing Authority will receive $715,001; Brewer Housing Authority will receive $328,834; Southwest Harbor Housing Authority will receive $110,004; Bar Harbor Housing Authority will receive $262,459; Mount Desert Housing Authority will receive $38,513; Tremont Housing Authority will receive $47,281; and Ellsworth Housing Authority will receive $115,643.