Sept. 5 – Two state lawmakers and the developer of an affordable housing project joined Harris’ campaign in Portland on Thursday to promote the Democratic presidential candidate’s plans to lower housing costs and ease the nationwide housing shortage.
“Talk to almost any Maine resident who wants to buy or rent a home, and you know there is more work to be done,” Sen. Teresa Pierce, D-Falmouth, said at a news conference outside Douglass Commons, an affordable housing project under construction in the city’s Libbytown neighborhood.
“We need leaders like Vice President (Kamala) Harris and Tim Walz, who have made it clear that building the middle class will be a key goal of their administration and who have a track record of lowering costs and solving big problems,” said Pierce, who co-chairs the Legislature’s Housing Committee.
Harris’ campaign said Thursday’s event was organized to draw attention to one of the most pressing issues facing Maine residents as the November election approaches.
In a Critical Insights on Maine poll released in June, 15% of people surveyed named housing and affordable housing as a top issue in Maine, ahead of the economy and cost of living. The poll surveyed 609 people in the state in April and has a margin of error of 4%.
Harris has announced plans for her first 100 days in office that she says will reduce costs for American families, including housing costs.
Harris has called for the construction of 3 million new homes over the next four years. Her plans include a new tax incentive for homebuilders who build starter homes sold to first-time homebuyers, expanding an existing tax incentive for companies that build affordable rental housing, and creating a new $40 billion Innovation Fund to help local governments find solutions for building homes, financing construction and helping design new homes.
Harris has also proposed providing up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers. She has also said she will work to expand rent subsidies by enforcing fair housing laws and cracking down on rising rents from corporate landlords.
A campaign spokesman for Republican Donald Trump in a statement Thursday following Harris’ campaign event in Portland pointed to the high cost of rent, gas and groceries under the Biden administration, saying Harris cannot be trusted to solve the affordable housing crisis.
“You can be confident that President Trump can revive the American Dream because he has a real plan to reduce inflation, lower mortgage rates and make buying a home significantly more affordable,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign national spokesperson, said in a statement.
“He will rein in federal spending, end the unsustainable invasion of illegal aliens that is driving up housing prices, cut taxes for American families, eliminate costly regulations, and free up suitable portions of federal land for housing.”
Amy Cullen, vice president and project partner at Szanton Company, which is building the Douglass Commons project with Maine Cooperative Development Partners, said at Thursday’s news conference that money is currently the biggest barrier to building more affordable housing.
“Over the years, there’s been a lot of cuts to affordable housing,” Cullen said. “We’ve had a small increase recently under the Biden administration, and we’d like to keep it that way.”
Douglass Commons includes 63 apartments currently under construction that will be available to families earning less than $75,000 a year. They are expected to open in August 2025. Future phases of the project will include 20 units reserved for affordable homeownership and another 42 units for affordable rent, Cullen said.
She said Harris’ plans would facilitate similar projects.
“Vice President Harris knows that housing is too expensive and that the American dream of home ownership is still out of reach for too many families,” Cullen said. “That’s why she’s making affordable housing a priority in her future administration.”
State Rep. Traci Gere, D-Kennebunkport, chair of the Housing Committee, said the state has worked hard to increase funding for affordable housing, but more is needed.
She said Harris’s $40 billion innovation fund would help with construction and “finding new and creative ways to lower the cost of housing.”
It would also help states and local governments find ways to reduce regulations and policies that prevent them from achieving their development goals, she said.
“This is a really important initiative that we’ve been working on within the housing commission and with communities across Maine, and funding for that part of the Harris plan would really help,” Gere said.
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