At the MaineHousing Affordable Housing Conference, leaders and advocates explored new strategies to address the state’s shortage of over 84,000 housing units.
BANGOR, Maine — With housing insecurity affecting thousands of Mainers, more than 500 housing advocates, developers, and state leaders gathered in Bangor for MaineHousing’s Affordable Housing Conference on Tuesday. Discussions centered around ways to get struggling Mainers into a stable home.
“Most households in Maine are experiencing it directly or indirectly,” Maine Housing’s executive director Dan Brennan said. “They know someone who’s struggling, or they’re trying to help someone get into a home or an apartment.”
Brennan pointed to rising construction costs from tariffs and changes in federal and state funding as major obstacles that have further exacerbated Maine’s lack of housing.
“Those funding sources are drying out and have dried up now,” he said.
The loss of funding and rising construction costs are pushing developers to explore alternatives—like modular homes, which are assembled in factories and then transported to building sites.
“It’s far more labor efficient,” CEO of KBS Builders Thatcher Butcher explained. “You can build many more houses per year per employee or per man-hour.”
According to Maine’s latest housing study in 2023, the state needs to build more than 84,000 housing units by 2030 to meet current and future demand.
The conversation also focused on how housing intersects with mental health and substance use treatment. Outreach advocates stressed the importance of providing wraparound services at affordable housing spaces, especially for people experiencing chronic homelessness.
“Having a partnership with a property manager where we can be creative about how to support somebody—and not use a three strikes and you’re out mentality—makes a big difference,” Allison Lovejoy with the non-profit Preble Street added.
Governor Janet Mills also attended the event and later attended a roundtable with local business owners to hear how the housing shortage and other issues are affecting the economy.
“Housing is a part of economic development,” Mills said. “When businesses hire hundreds of people, but they come here, and they can’t find a place to live—and they turn around and go back—that’s a problem.”
Owner of Dreamer food truck, Anik Derphillibossian, shared how rising costs are impacting customers, and in return, her business.
“We have a very loyal following,” she said. “We hear from some of them, ‘I wish we could eat here every day, but we just can’t afford it.’”
They’re discussions that state officials and housing advocates agree are crucial to ensuring current and future Mainers have somewhere to call home.
“It’s been at the forefront of people’s minds for a long time,” he said. “It needs to stay there so we can keep making advancements.”