Extra work to deal with Maine’s housing scarcity wanted at state and native ranges
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Maine lawmakers have some large concepts to attempt to deal with the housing disaster within the subsequent legislative session. And so they higher, as a result of it continues to be an enormous downside.
It could be repetitive and it could be overly simplistic, however it’s value emphasizing as soon as once more: Working to ease the housing challenges within the Bangor space and throughout Maine will take an “all-of-the-above” method. In the beginning, that should imply an all-of-the-above method to growing Maine’s housing provide — notably inexpensive housing.
There are numerous completely different forces and elements at play on this disaster, there needs to be doubt about that. However we should not lose monitor of the first driver, as new BDN housing reporter Zara Norman identified lately, “that total provide stays the largest issue within the state’s affordability disaster.” For all the eye that issues like short-term leases get, the truth that development of latest housing falls effectively under demand is the problem on the core of the issue.
So when wanting on the checklist of some concepts heading into subsequent 12 months’s legislative session, we expect all the things must be on the desk. Proposals regarding zoning modifications, tax incentives, rental help and different concepts are all a part of an advanced puzzle. However as lawmakers rightfully think about a bunch of various concepts from throughout the political and ideological spectrum, they need to do not forget that essentially the most basic, if long-term, step Maine can take is to facilitate progress within the housing provide itself.
This pondering should lengthen past the halls of energy in Augusta to each municipal board room as effectively. There must be a greater stability between preserving native management and addressing statewide wants, at the least when native management has too usually been synonymous with NIMBYism and inaction.
That shift can and will come from native communities themselves, which should understand that these housing challenges are everybody’s to resolve. If municipalities don’t need the state to step in with one-size-fits-all options, then they need to be engaged on options sized particularly to their circumstances. However deciding that Maine’s housing disaster is one thing for different communities to resolve is clearly no answer in any respect.
At each the state and native ranges, policymakers must be exploring methods to take away boundaries to constructing extra housing — of every type.
