This fall, we can elect a City Council to solve Portland’s housing crisis.
Most of our new housing is either low-income, requiring taxpayer subsidies of $200,000 per unit, or is too expensive for locals.
Social housing, pioneered in the U.S. by Montgomery County, Maryland, can help build middle-income housing at minimal cost to taxpayers. A municipality borrows money at a low interest rate and reloans it to new mixed-income housing projects. Housing gets built, and profits are used to only improve the property and/or keep rents low.
Our current City Council is considering social housing this fall, and three council candidates, Grayson Lookner, Wes Pelletier and Todd Morse, support the concept. Lookner has visited social housing projects globally, and spent his term in the Legislature educating on its benefits and mechanics.
I believe supporting social housing in Portland will be a good long-term investment for taxpayers.
Liz Trice
Portland
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