Affordable housing advocates urge Legislature to help

AUGUSTA, Maine — Apartmentlist.com states the typical price to lease a one-bedroom condo in Portland is $1,356. The newest U.S. Census lists the town’s common earnings at $33,470.

In Bangor, lease averages $930 with a mean earnings of $25,465. Meaning individuals in each cities are spending 50% of their earnings on lease.

“I want there was only a magic wand that I may wave and we may simply repair inexpensive housing and ensure there’s sufficient, however it’s a very complicated problem,” Cate Blackford with the Maine Folks’s Alliance mentioned.

Folks in Maine are in some circumstances spending 60% of their earnings on lease, she mentioned, which is stopping them from with the ability to save for a house of their very own. But it surely’s not simply leases which are costly.

“There’s challenges on either side of that market,” mentioned Jeff Levine with the Maine Reasonably priced Housing Coalition. “On the homeownership facet there simply is not a lot stock and the costs are a lot greater than what most Mainers can afford.”

Levine mentioned there may be some hope because the Legislature works to unravel this downside.

“This present legislature has been one of the vital proactive in housing in fairly a while,” he mentioned.

That features LD 2003, which goals to extend housing alternatives by finding out zoning and land restrictions.

“It will create a statewide coverage when it comes to how communities may regulate housing manufacturing,” Levine mentioned.

Whereas there may be work being completed on the inexpensive housing entrance, many hope  the emergency housing aid funds within the state’s supplemental finances can be used to create extra inexpensive housing throughout the state.