Gov. Janet Mills outlines steps to expand and preserve affordable housing in Maine

Governor Janet Mills said Thursday that her administration is stepping up efforts to expand and preserve affordable housing across Maine, announcing grants for local projects, citing recent state financing, and urging further legislative action.

Mills opened by calling homeownership "the cornerstone of the American dream" and said that the prospect of owning a home is "simply out of reach for so many people." She cited specific figures, saying the median price for a home in Maine is $395,000 compared with a national median of $401,800 and that "almost 30% of all Americans are, quote, house poor," meaning they spend 30% or more of their income on housing.

The governor said the nation is short "millions of housing units" and identified several factors driving higher costs and slower construction, including high interest rates, supply-chain and labor shortages, and "the president's tariffs on aluminum, steel, and other building materials," a claim she made without a response from federal officials in the remarks.

On specific state actions, Mills highlighted the Home for Good program, which she described as a cost-effective approach to addressing chronic homelessness by supporting emergency housing and shelters with wraparound services. She said Bangor, Portland and South Portland will receive grants through that program to create 92 new affordable apartments with supportive services intended to help people move off the streets and into stable housing.

Mills said her administration has authorized "almost $315,000,000" to build more homes since she took office and that, in the past year, the administration and MaineHousing financed more than 1,000 affordable homes, mostly new construction.

She also credited collaboration with the legislature on zoning, land-use, regulatory and permitting reforms intended to let the private sector build more market-rate homes, and described recent legislation to preserve existing affordable housing. Mills listed expanded tax-relief measures — the property tax fairness credit, the homestead exemption and the state historic rehabilitation tax credit — and the creation of a mobile home park preservation fund to enable residents to purchase parks rather than face displacement.

Mills described an "American dream" proposal pending in the legislature that she said would lead to 825 new homes across Maine, mostly for middle-class families. She closed by saying the administration is "building and lifting lives" so more Mainers can afford a place to call home.

The speech concluded with a brief sign-off from Mills: "This is governor Janet Mills, and thank you for listening."