PORTLAND (WGME) — The Portland City Council is looking into creating a task force on “social housing.”
It’s to evaluate whether Portland could start operating as a public developer to create affordable housing.
City leaders say housing stock just isn’t going up fast enough in Portland, and they say there are gaps that private and non-profit developers don’t have the capacity to fill.
So to combat the city’s housing crisis, the council will consider developing a social housing task force Monday night.
The goal is to form a committee that would look into the feasibility of the city acting as a developer and building affordable and working-class housing in the city.
The council is also set to approve a sale agreement with Lambert Woods North LLC.
The city is selling them a 4.8-acre lot at 622 Auburn Street for $1 and in return, the development company is planning to build 72 affordable apartments there.
It will be a mix of 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom apartments and will be for people making less than 60 percent of the area median income. That’s about $77,000 a year for a family of four.
The agreement states those housing units will remain affordable for 99 years.