Letter: Housing crisis harms Mainers’ quality of life, Fecteau bill would help

House Speaker Ryan Fecteau’s bill LD 2003, an act to implement the Commission’s Recommendations to Increase Housing Opportunities in Maine, was created with bipartisan support.

This bill will take significant steps towards fixing our housing shortage and create a needed path to address the critical issue of quality, affordable housing for all in Maine.

I’m an employer and a landlord in a part of the state that is increasingly unaffordable.

There is a direct link between our housing crisis and Maine’s worker shortage which affects everyone in our state from tourism to health care, from restaurants to the lobster boat stern men and school bus drivers, you name an employer in Maine, and they most likely have been affected by our worker shortage. It also affects our volunteer programs, from tee-ball to meals on wheels and more.

The housing shortage affects employee recruitment, productivity, and retention. To live and work in Maine, People will need access to affordable housing. Maine must build a greater supply of affordable housing for about 26,000 Mainers on waiting lists and to attract the number of workers our state needs.

By investing in affordable housing, we can reduce what we are currently spending on adverse effects created by the lack of housing. Children’s Health Watch found that unstable housing among families with children will cost the U.S. $111 billion in avoidable health and education expenditures over the next ten years.

We must make sure our zoning and housing policies have equitable outcomes that address The history of segregated housing that hurts poor communities, our economy, and all of us. LD 2003 will help us start on a path towards integrated, quality, affordable housing for Maine.

LD 2003 takes necessary steps forward for our entire state. It will help those who need housing. It will significantly improve people’s overall health. It will support local businesses. It will increase homeownership, and it will create economic opportunities. It will help Maine towns and cities thrive.

We must change our zoning laws now if we are serious about solving the housing crisis and growing our economy.