June 3: Letter to the editor: Rent control? Focus on inadequate housing supply
James Cloutier, former city councilor of Portland, wrote a letter to the editor in support of Question A. Cloutier tells readers, “the problem is inadequate housing supply. Backward, ham-fisted regulation doesn’t work. As the research shows, it makes the problem worse. Portland’s experience may be different, although no reason that it would be is obvious. Competition for apartments is already brutal. Question A will fix a little of this. Vote “yes.”
Read the full article here.
June 5: Last day for new shelter guests at the Portland Expo
Monday was the last day for new guests to arrive at the Portland Expo for shelter. The shelter will be closing in August. City officials will help asylum seekers currently as the Expo find new housing options over the coming weeks.
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June 5: Landlords, realtors ramp up spending ahead of rent control referendum
Central Maine covered Portland landlords raising over $200,000 to support our referendum. RHA President Brit Vitalius notes in the article, “I think people are tired of campaigning for housing policy. This is our fourth rent control campaign in six years. It’s exhausting and a terrible way to make policy, but the current ordinance is so bad we’re imploring folks in the community to support the campaign because it’s the only way we can get the word out.”
Read the full article here.
June 5: Portland forms response team to address homeless encampments
The City of Portland is forming an encampment crisis response team with the encampment along the fore river parkway as its first official focus. The crisis team “will be action driven and focused on protecting public safety by finding housing for the unhoused.”
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June 6: Acadia to commission design for workforce housing development
Acadia National Park received federal funding to design a development offering affordable housing for year-round and seasonal employees. The development would accommodate 60 beds.
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June 7: Portland voters should amend ordinance, but rent control is a bad policy
Matthew Gagnon, Opinion columnist for Bangor Daily News, wrote an article supporting Question A. Gagnon notes, “This is what Question A seeks to address. When a tenant voluntarily leaves a property, the landlord would now have an opportunity to recoup some of the lost income that the rent-controlled unit had held back. That makes it possible for them to afford the repairs and do the upgrades they would ordinarily want to do.”
Read the full article here.
June 7: Construction on tiny home park in Bangor begins
Walls have started going up on Bangor’s new tiny home park development. The site plans to hold 34 tiny homes, with construction finishing by mid-summer.
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June 6: Towns prepared for enactment of new law designed to increase housing stock
Cumberland, Yarmouth and Falmouth are tweaking their ordinances to comply with Maine’s new affordable housing law, LD 2003, which goes into effect in July. Cumberland has been working over the past few months in preparation for LD 2003 so has Yarmouth. Falmouth could see a slight residential density increase from LD 2003.
Read the full article here.
