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UPCOMING EVENTS
SEPT 28 - PRO Housing HUD Funding Overview, Zoom
MAHC encourages all members to attend the Oct 4 Maine Housing Conference. We have canceled our Oct 3 member meeting.
OCT 4 - Maine Housing Conference, Holiday Inn, Portland
OCT 11 - Up For Growth, Housing Changemakers Summit, Washington D.C.
Featuring Ryan Fecteau, Former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives

HUD Updates Fair Market Rents, housingfinance.com, August 31, 2023

The national mean increase is 12.2% for the upcoming fiscal year. Fair market rents (FMRs) for fiscal 2024 will increase an average of approximately 12% in fiscal 2024, increasing the number of units that families with housing vouchers can access, announced the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). More

MaineHousing Construction Finance Interest Rate Increase

MaineHousing is increasing its construction financing interest rate from 3.5% to 4.5% per year with an origination fee of 1.75% of the entire construction loan amount. This is in response to internal cost of funds in the current interest rate environment. The change will take effect for all deals that have not yet received a Notice to Proceed. To the extent that it causes underwriting issues for your project, please reach out to the assigned Multifamily Loan Officer to find a solution.

Sept 28 - HUD PRO Housing Grant Engagement Session - 9:30-11:30 am, Zoom

Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) is hosting a Zoom stakeholder engagement session to discuss the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Pathways to Removing Obstacles to Housing (PRO Housing). This grant opportunity appropriates $85 million in grant funding for the identification and removal of barriers to affordable housing production and preservation. Awards can develop and implement housing policy plans, improve housing strategies, and facilitate affordable housing production and preservation. The session will provide an overview DECD’s proposed grant projects, a timeline of the grant application process, and an opportunity for public feedback on DECD’s proposed projects. This session will be in addition to the PRO Housing Grant’s required public hearing to discuss the draft application, which will take place in October. No need to RSVP. Zoom Link: https://mainestate.zoom.us/j/88248141733

Learn how to apply for the PRO Housing Grant - NOFO here.

Affordable Housing Production is up in Maine — But Yet to Reach Official Goals

Maine housing officials say that affordable housing production has ramped up in recent years — but construction cost increases have slowed that progress. Greg Payne, the senior housing advisor to Gov. Janet Mills, told the Legislature's housing committee on Tuesday that the state had invested $285 million in affordable housing since 2019. Read more.

CAN DIGITALIZATION IMPROVE HOW WE PLAN, REVIEW, AND REGULATE HOUSING?

Digitalization, which has already changed how housing is produced, sold, financed, and used, could also improve how we plan, review, regulate, and shape both housing and housing markets, according to three new papers. However, policymakers and advocates who want to take advantage of digitalization must overcome significant obstacles according to the authors, who first presented their work at last year’s symposium on housing and digitalization. In “Data-Driven Multi-Scale Planning for Housing Affordability,” Paul Waddell and Arezoo Besharati argue that growing concerns about housing affordability have spurred the development of digital tools to assess potential sites for housing.

Rising Insurance Rates Are Crushing Affordable Housing Developers

Natural disasters and crime are being blamed for property insurance hikes that are frustrating builders of much-needed new apartment buildings.

Developers of apartment buildings across the US are raising alarms as property insurance rates continue to rise, a trend that threatens to seal off the pipeline for much-needed housing construction — especially new apartments with affordable units. Premiums and deductibles for policies required by mortgage lenders have shot up two- to three-fold over the last five years, frustrated developers say. Read more.

A new residential apartment building under construction in Philadelphia.

NLIHC Updates & Recruiting Maine Housing Provider Leaders

Budget and Appropriations: Senate Prepares for Vote on HUD Funding Bill, While House Republicans Unveil Continuing Resolution That Would Drastically Cut HUD Funding – Take Action!

Lawmakers are closing in on a September 30 deadline to reach an agreement to keep the federal government funded or else risk a partial government shutdown. Despite widespread agreement that a short-term spending measure to extend government funding, known as a continuing resolution (CR), will be needed to avoid a shutdown, progress on enacting a CR has been slow and contentious. Read more of this article here

Homelessness and Housing First: VA Announces Progress toward 2023 Goals for Preventing and Ending Veteran Homelessness

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced on August 28 that it had permanently housed 26,470 veterans through July 2023 and was on pace to exceed its goal of housing 38,000 veterans experiencing homelessness in 2023. The VA also announced more than $1 billion in grants through the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) and Homeless Providers Grants and Per Diem programs. Read more of this article here

Recruiting Housing Developers, Property Managers & Resident Services for Housing Providers Council

NLIHC’s Our Homes, Our Votes campaign has an initiative called the Housing Providers Council, which convenes affordable housing developers, property managers, and resident services coordinators that are committed to promoting civic engagement in their properties. The Housing Providers Council offers trainings, resources, and a platform for peer exchange on ideas to increase resident voter registration and turnout rates. As we approach the 2024 election cycle, we are looking to recruit additional members of the Housing Providers Council and expand the reach of our work. Would you be willing to share an invitation to the Housing Providers Council with your membership, or with any individual organizations that might be interested in participating? A comprehensive invitation to the Housing Providers Council can can be found here.

Watch a Harvard Update on the State of Housing

The Center’s State of the Nation’s Housing 2023 report, which was released in June, noted that while US housing markets had cooled, home prices and rents remained near record highs while mortgage rates also had risen sharply. As a result, millions of people—including a disproportionate share of people of color—were cost burdened, unable to become homeowners, and, in many cases, without shelter at all. In this presentation, Daniel McCue and Alexander Hermann, senior researchers at the Center, will review the report’s key findings as well as recent data showing increases in house prices, rents, and interest rates. Watch video.

A Bold New Federal Experiment in Giving Renters Cash (Not Vouchers)

Would money help tenants more than housing vouchers? A group of researchers at the Department of Housing and Urban Development have been quietly developing an idea that could fundamentally upend the nearly 50-year-old housing voucher program, which helps more than 2 million low-income families afford apartments in the private rental market every year. The idea is relatively simple: What if, instead of traditional housing vouchers laden with convoluted red tape that landlords notoriously hate, low-income tenants could pay their rent with cash? Would that make it easier for tenants to find housing or move into better neighborhoods? Could that even save the government money by streamlining the aid? Read more.

A person walks by a sign advertising a two-bedroom apartment for rent.

6 Efforts that are Tackling the Shortage of Affordable Housing in Maine

Maine is a long way from solving the affordable housing shortage, but developers, investors, nonprofits and municipalities are chipping away at the issue. Read More

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