MaineHousing: Maine needs 38,500 homes to meet demand

Courtesy / 55 Weston Ave. LLC A rendering of 55 Weston Ave., an affordable housing development in Madison with 36 units.

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By Peter Van Allen

A study released this week estimates that Maine will need an additional 38,500 homes to meet its expected housing demand.

That’s according to a report released Wednesday by MaineHousing, the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future and the state Department of Economic and Community Development.

Maine has 737,800 homes, meaning the state would need to increase its home stock by 5%.

“For many years, we’ve known that homes are in short supply in Maine, and that prices have been rising out of reach of Maine people. Now, with this study, we have for the first time a detailed understanding of the factors that have contributed to our housing affordability and availability challenges today, and a clear sense of what we must consider to grow our housing inventory to support our communities and economy in the future,” said Greg Payne, senior housing advisor in the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future.

“These study findings will be invaluable for housing planning going forward, and importantly, will help communities make strong, informed decisions on their housing priorities today and into the future.”

The “State of Maine Housing Production Study” was released in conjunction with MaineHousing’s annual conference, held Wednesday.

The study, the first of its kind in Maine, was initiated as part of LD 2003, housing legislation enacted in 2021 that called for analysis of Maine’s housing needs to help inform and assist state, municipal and legislative housing policy.

Through 2030, Maine could need as many as 45,000 additional homes, based on future population trends, housing market projections and economic and workforce objectives, the study reported.

The Mills administration has invested $285 million to provide incentives to build more housing, resulting in 618 new homes, with 1,126 homes under construction, and 2,187 more homes in the pipeline. By comparison, from 2000 to 2018, the state of Maine only invested $65 million in affordable housing.