July 18: Portland city council postpones citizen initiative reforms indefinitely 

On Monday night, the Portland city council voted to postpone reforms on the "citizen initiative" referendum process. This indefinite postponement comes after several local referendums in the past election cycles. 

Read the full article here. 

July 19: Maine enacts new law to provide tenants with additional notice of rent increases 

A new law signed by Gov. Mills will now require rental housing providers to notify tenants 75 days in advance if rents are being increased by more than 10%. The new law will go into effect on October 4th.    

Read the full article here.  

July 19: Biden administration lauds new Maine law limiting rental application fees 

This week, a White House news release praised Gov. Mills' new bill that limits rental application fees. Last month, Gov. Mills signed a bill that prevents l rental housing providers from charging fees exceeding the actual cost of screening a tenant or charging for more than one screening yearly.   

Read the full article here.  

July 20: First of its kind Maine housing relief program expanded 

The Project HOME program from Quality Housing Coalition has expanded! Project HOME is a first-of-its-kind program that launched six years ago and partners with rental housing providers to offer high quality supportive housing for individuals and children who have experienced or are at risk of experiencing housing insecurity and/or homelessness. 
 
Read the full article below and learn more about QHC (our 2023 Community Partner of the Year!) and donate to their cause at www.rhamaine.org/rha-foundation. 

Read the full article here.