View this email in your browser

NEW - Thursday, Feb 8 - MAHC Member Meeting, 9-10:30 am, at
Maine Housing, 26 Edison Drive, Augusta
Panel discussion on the Affordable Housing Investment Market.

MAHC Electrification Brief Targets Opportunity to Rethink Interpretation of HUD Choice Limiting Action and Repeated Environmental Reviews to Access Project Funding

With MAHC member input, MAHC developed this summary brief that highlights the challenges that electrification is having on the speedy and cost efficient production of affordable housing. MAHC is working with partners to advocate with federal decision makers on considering opportunities for a broader interpretation of HUD's Choice Limiting Action that has resulted in projects getting stopped, slowed down, or increased costs. Brief

Societal benefits of Low-Income Weatherization Programs

Low-income residential energy efficiency programs save energy and can yield numerous co-benefits or non-energy impacts (NEIs). This paper presents a two-component framework that can be used to measure and monetize household-related NEIs. Two examples of using the framework are presented, one associated with weatherization of affordable multifamily buildings in the Northeastern and Midwestern regions of the U.S. Seventeen NEIs were subject to monetization, including reductions in medical interventions for being too cold or too hot in one's home and reductions in use of predatory loans. More

Housing Committee Update: Maine Homeless Shelters Warn of Financial Crisis

Six shelters around the state are facing a collective shortfall of about $4.1 million and at least one is in danger of closing.
They presented to the Select Committee on Housing on December 5. “At a time when homelessness is exploding across Maine and when tragic encampments have popped up throughout the state, Maine’s critically important low-barrier shelters are in danger of closing due to lack of funds,” Mark Swann, executive director of the nonprofit Preble Street, said in testimony before the Legislature’s Joint Select Committee on Housing. More

MAHC Supports USDA Rural Housing To Use Community Facilities program to Build Affordable Housing
MAHC sent a letter advocating implementation of a proposed plan to use this program's loans and grants to include housing as a vital community resource. More.

Thank You Rep. Pingree for Signing On As a Cosponsor to LIHTC Expansion and the AHCIA After MAHC Outreach -
Congress is Negotiating an End of Year Tax Bill

Top congressional leaders are working quickly to reach a bipartisan agreement before the end of the year to expand the Child Tax Credit and revive several expired business tax incentives. If a deal is reached, the tax package could also include resources to expand and reform the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) via the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act (AHCIA) (S.1557/H.R.3238), a piece of bipartisan legislation. More

MaineHousing Meeting on Housing First Follow Up Materials

MaineHousing held an information session on new funding assigned from the Real Estate Transfer Tax of ~$11 million per year that will be used for the construction and then provision of services at Housing First sites in Maine. Materials shared there were:

Emergency Housing Guide for Older Adults

A little-known yet growing concern among social service workers and those operating homeless shelters across the United States is the increasing number of older Americans experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Caring.com has developed this emergency housing guide https://www.caring.com/caregivers/emergency-housing-guide/ that includes Maine resources.

Maine Connectivity Authority Funding Includes Affordable Housing

This grant program will invest in new and existing community anchor institutions (CAIs) such as libraries, community centers, affordable housing developments, municipal or tribal buildings, and other gathering places that enable workforce training, education, and health monitoring for people most impacted by the digital divide. Grants between $250,000 and $2 million will be awarded for capital improvements, such as facility construction and renovation, and essential assets like affordable devices for public access and lending programs. More

MOVE OVER MILLENNIALS, GEN Z IS DRIVING RENTAL DEMAND

As slowing multifamily construction underscores a downturn in rental markets, optimists see rental demand holding strong over the long run, and point to favorable demographics as a reason to remain optimistic. But are demographics truly favorable for rental housing? More

Figure 1: The Number of Millennial Renters Has Peaked, Now Gen Z is Driving Renter Household Growth

MAHC ONLINE MEMBERSHIP SYSTEM HERE
Renew Your Membership- July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024
Create your directory listing with logos, additional contacts and more.

YOU MAY NEED TO RESET YOUR ORGANIZATION'S MEMBERSHIP LEVEL. Log in with your email address and set your password by clicking "Forgot Password". Please reach out if you have any questions HERE.