LD 2003 Helps Maine Solve Affordable Housing Crisis

  • We are facing a housing crisis in Maine and the status quo is not sustainable. Supply has not kept up with demand. We’ve built only 250 units of affordable housing annually on average. The need is 1000 units per year. There are over 25,000 people on affordable housing waitlists statewide. 
  • Maine needs more housing today to accommodate our workforce needs, our young people, and older Mainers, and these needs will only grow in the decades to come. 
  • Our housing crisis requires that we take action to better use land where single family homes are already allowed and empower people to build housing on the land they own.
  • Updating zoning regulations can make every Maine community more welcoming and affordable to people from all walks of life and at different times in their life. 
  • The housing crunch is not going away. Current production is not sustainable since more people from other states are moving to Maine. 16,300 people moved here last year and only 6,800 building permits were awarded.  4 out of 5 permits were for single-family homes.

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BROAD SUPPORT IN MAINE FOR LD 2003:

Maine Association of Planners
“The bill gives local communities a plum and square foundation on which a variety of housing-opportunity environments can be built. As such this bill should not be considered a “one size fits all” approach. It provides, even requires, local flavor and creativity to execute its intent. The minimum requirements as outlined in this bill represent the moral obligation all communities must realize and this newest amendment skillfully allows local interpretation and rulemaking which will result in a stronger, sustained, and more beautiful patchwork quilt of a state on a journey to create more housing opportunity.” Read MAP letter of support


AARP
“It is going to take efforts from the state and all municipalities in Maine to solve our current affordable housing crisis that is affecting many Maine families. LD 2003 provides important updates to our state that will ensure Mainers have equitable access to innovative housing opportunities and less barriers to constructing the units we need.” Read AARP Letter of Support


Maine Equal Justice
“MEJ supports this bill because it will expedite the creation of affordable housing. As we all know, the need for affordable housing has never been greater. In Maine, we are facing a housing crisis that stems, in huge part, from the challenges of building the housing that we need. This is a direct result of the exclusionary zoning policies that have been pervasive in our state for decades. Zoning decisions having been left to localities without any sort of check on that power to ensure that all Mainers are being housed” Read MEJ oped in Press Herald


Maine Conservation Voters
“By increasing the amount of affordable housing in the state, LD 2003 will help address the workforce shortages that are preventing Maine from carrying out our climate action plan — Maine Won’t Wait — at the pace needed. . . LD 2003 encourages compact, mixed-use development that will lessen Maine’s impact on the environment and make our communities, our food system, and our economy more resilient to climate change.” 


Maine Chamber of Commerce

“Maine is not alone in it’s race to solve the affordable housing equation. But this bill may give our state a leg up to better compete to attract those workers that our economy needs for the future. The issue of affordable housing is one that we hear about from our membership all the time, both urban and rural businesses. Affordable housing is critical because it’s tied directly to workforce and the ability to attract people of all ages to our state.”

Maine People’s Alliance
“MPA strongly supports efforts to increase opportunities for housing by updating our land use and zoning regulations. The changes in this bill set a new standard for how we approach housing in every community, understanding that we must all be part of solving our housing crisis. By having the state update how it guides zoning, it creates opportunities to move beyond the local status quo. These recommendations would lay a foundation for greater density, more housing diversity and a shared responsibility statewide. They would also provide resources and support for the implementation of these changes.”

 

Maine Association of Realtors

“The Maine Association of REALTORS® (MAR) strongly supports LD 2003. The Commission spent a great deal of time considering many options. We believe a holistic approach is needed to address the affordable housing problem and we must look at barriers to building more housing. The Commission’s recommendations do just that.”

 

Maine Affordable Housing Coalition
“There is a statewide economic and social crisis caused by a limited housing supply. While many cities and towns are proactively working to address the issue, some lack the technical assistance and the statewide clarity to adequately do so. This bill – like in the case of shoreland zoning – would clarify state policies with respect to housing as well as individuals’ ability to use their land to meet their housing needs. At the same time, like with shoreland zoning, it allows local governments some discretion on how to implement those needed statewide policies on the local level.”

“The housing need, cost and backlog are so extensive that they can only be reduced with a multi-tiered initiative that incorporates a myriad of tools available, over many years. Relying solely on traditional publicly-financed multi-unit rental developments will – at best – meet a small percentage of the escalating need. This bill allows the market to produce more housing by simply balancing local land use regulatory authority with statewide policies to increase our housing.”

 

Permanent Commission on the Status of Racial, Indigeous and Tribal Populations

“We see LD 2003 as a good-faith effort to correct and prevent some of the most egregious zoning policies while working with local towns to achieve better and more housing development over time. Discrimination in housing based on race was legal in the United States as late as the 1960s and one can easily see the effects of this in the shape of segregated cities and towns across the country today…LD 2003 starts to correct this history by both prohibiting specific exclusionary zoning policies while also incentivizing towns to adopt further changes to their zoning laws.”


Natural Resources Council of Maine 

“As the commendable work of the Housing Commission and the Committee have made clear, there is a strong connection between addressing our housing issues and solutions to the climate crisis. The zoning restrictions that are the focus of this bill limit the development of affordable housing and housing supply overall, but they also contribute to the carbon emissions driving climate change. Modernizing Maine’s housing and zoning policies can help alleviate the expensive dependence on cars and commutes that result in the transportation sector representing the largest sector source of Maine’s greenhouse gas pollution.” Read NRCM piece: Why increasing housing opportunities is good for the climate: by Jack Shapiro, Climate and Clean Energy Program Director

 

SUPPORTERS

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