When it meets this week the South Portland Affordable Housing Committee will hear from local lawyer Katherine McGovern, who will discuss recommendations for policy changes when it comes to issues facing low-income tenants.
The meeting, scheduled for May 11, was held after the Current’s print deadline, but Chris Kessler, a committee member and head of the South Portland Tenant’s Association, said it’s his hope that McGovern can help the “public and the committee truly understand the need for increased protections for renters in this tight housing market.”
The 11-member Affordable Housing Committee was created by the City Council earlier this year in response to concerns raised by Kessler and others that South Portland is facing a housing crisis in terms of affordable rental units, even for working, middle class households.
The committee has met several times and plans to meet into June. The goal of the group is to come up with a set of recommendations for the council in terms of what local government might be able to do to ease the housing crunch, keep rents affordable for residents and offer better protections to tenants.
Some of the items under consideration, according to Kessler, are a ban on no-cause evictions, rent controls, including a cap on annual rent increases, and a requirement for landlords to register all of their rental units.
Kessler said this week’s meeting of the Affordable Housing Committee is important because, “the committee will review specifics about the current housing crisis, consumer protections for renters and exact solutions for the City Council to implement.”
McGovern works for the Portland office of Pine Tree Legal Assistance Inc. and represents low-income people in housing, public benefits and consumer cases.
Prior to the meeting, McGovern told the Current that just like in Portland, “tenants in South Portland are facing rapidly increasing rents and the loss of affordable units as buildings are purchased and renovated to be rented out at higher (rates).”
There is also a concern that “there are long waits for subsidized affordable housing in South Portland,” McGovern said. “And even when people finally receive section 8 vouchers, they encounter landlords who refuse to rent to them.”
She said some things South Portland could do is institute rent controls by putting limits on rent increases, require that landlords have cause before evicting tenants and impose fees on AirBnB rentals and use that revenue to fund affordable housing development or assistance for low-income renters.
During its past several meetings, the Affordable Housing Committee has learned that renter households making between 75 and 80 percent of the median income or less are the most affected when it comes to the affordability of housing.
The data also suggests that high rent and home prices may be contributing to
demographic and socioeconomic changes in South Portland, including young people seeking out smaller units in walkable areas close to
services and amenities.
And, the committee was also told that a regional housing study completed last year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development “clearly shows the region is experiencing a shortage of housing supply.”
In fact, the report estimates the region will require 4,000 new sale units and 2,000 new rental units in the next three years just to keep up with the demand.
In light of this data, South Portland’s housing committee is looking at instituting a number of initiatives, including the creation of a certain number of units or a certain share of new units being designated affordable within the next few years.
Tom MacDonald, vice president of acquisitions for the Northern New England Housing Investment Fund, told the housing committee that the
primary vehicle for new affordable housing development is the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, which is administered by the Maine State Housing Authority.
The problem is that only about five projects a year receive the tax credits, while the housing authority receives three times that number of applications from developers.
One way that municipalities could help local developers, McDonald said, is to step in and make public improvements that could increase the strength of tax credit applications made to the housing authority, such as building a new sidewalk or a bus shelter.
However, he also said that South Portland is already in the highest category of need in terms of affordable housing. But, McDonald also said that increasing housing supply generally, even at the market rate, does have a positive impact for all households, including low-income ones.
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