January 17: Is Portland’s rent control ordinance working? 

The Portland Press Herald recently interviewed industry partners, city officials, and RHA members alike on the impact of rent control, with those opposed outlining the negative effects on housing. RHA President Brit Vitalius said, “a lot of landlords, especially smaller ones, have found the ordinance burdensome, and some are selling their buildings as a result.”

Read the full article here.

January 17: Seeing progress, Brunswick again extends housing moratorium 

On Tuesday, the Brunswick Town Council voted to extend their housing moratorium for 180 days while the Brunswick Housing Committee aims to develop new policies around affordable housing units and new construction. The moratorium blocks new projects that contain “at least 30 housing units unless at least 15% of those units are reserved for households making no more than Brunswick’s area median income.” 

Read the full article here. 

January 17: Southern Maine residents say they’re being priced out of once-affordable city 

Biddeford recently created an Affordable Housing Task Force to look for solutions to address the city’s housing crisis, while advocating against rent control “because of potential negative impacts seen in other cities…task force members did not feel rent control would help achieve its goals.”

Read the full article here. 

January 18: South Portland wants to take a lighter approach to rent control 

RHA President Brit Vitalius and city officials were interviewed in a recent Bangor Daily News article discussing South Portland’s rent control proposal. “The group that wrote the referendum in Portland didn’t flesh out the consequences,” Vitalius said. “South Portland has had a deliberative process with great input.”

Read the full article here.