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Wednesday, May 14, 2003
Affordable rents critically scarce, towns told
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||
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SOUTH PORTLAND — In the town of York, apartments are so scarce that York Hospital recently started housing employees in its own condominium development. Scarborough officials are struggling to create affordable rents in a town where many new homes sell for more than $400,000. And the South Portland Housing Authority has 150 public housing units and a waiting list of 300 people. The lack of affordable rental housing in southern Maine was the subject of a regional conference Tuesday at the Marriott Sable Oaks. The afternoon event attracted 150 state and local officials, housing advocates, developers and others who sought information about the region's affordable rental crisis. Gov. John Baldacci made a brief stop at the conference to promote an $8 million bond issue on the June ballot that would help fund affordable multifamily projects. Baldacci urged Maine communities to complete their long-range housing plans - he said half of them have yet to do so - and to start seeking regional solutions to shared housing problems. He also decried NIMBY, the not-in-my-back-yard attitude that keeps some cities and towns from building affordable housing. "Fear isn't going to solve anything," Baldacci said. "We've got to work together on this." The keynote speaker was John Mullin, director of the Center for Economic Development at the University of Massachusetts. Mullin said one way to encourage construction of affordable rental housing - what some now call "attainable" housing - is to promote it as an economic engine rather than a social strategy. "I want you to think of housing making money for the community," Mullin said. He acknowledged that building more housing would attract families and could increase school enrollments, create more traffic and likely increase taxes. However, he said, it also would provide homes for people who buy things, pay taxes and would generally rather live and work in the same community. Mullin said a lack of affordable housing can ultimately hinder balanced economic growth and development because workers will only travel so far for jobs. The problem has grown acute in towns like York, where half of the firefighters now live out of town, compared with 15 percent 10 years ago. According to housing advocates, apartment vacancy rates throughout the region remain tight, hovering between 1 percent and 3 percent. A two-bedroom apartment costs $800 to $1,000 a month in some parts of southern Maine. Mullin encouraged Mainers to make zoning changes that encourage affordable housing development, and to embrace a wider range of housing styles, such as condominiums and modular housing. He also said it is necessary to demand attractive and well-designed projects, and to think of affordable housing as a local issue because federal dollars seem to be drying up. Dana Totman, chief executive officer of York Cumberland Housing, called for more and faster financing from the Maine State Housing Authority. Totman said the state agency funds about 300 new affordable housing units across Maine each year, and it can take 10 months to line up financing. The conference was hosted by the Southern Maine Affordable Rental Housing Coalition to renew its year-old call for a community response to the lack of affordable apartments. "I think it's appropriate to call it a crisis," said Andrea Cianchette Maker, a coalition leader. "And it's not improved since last year." Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at: kbouchard@pressherald.com
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