I have one simple observation regarding the housing crisis in Maine. Our legislature and municipalities have allowed or required Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), residential zoning changes, subsidized housing, surcharges to new expensive apartment construction, elimination of parking requirements, rent control, etc. However, I have not seen anybody address the fundamental economics problem with new housing.

Contractors are simply not building affordable homes like the tract housing of the 1950s.

Why is this? It’s really quite simple — they make more money building more expensive homes. I am not criticizing contractors at all. I’m just acknowledging the reality of capitalism in that more money is made from more expensive homes.

A very important corollary to this is that these expensive homes, old and new, are being bought by Maine citizens. Yes, there has been an influx of wealthy out-of-state people buying second homes or moving to Maine to work remotely. But my point is that a substantial number of Mainers can afford these expensive homes, otherwise housing prices would not be where they are today. We are seeing the market working as expected.

How do we get back to the days of affordable starter homes? I don’t have the answer to that. However, I am not convinced that the potential solutions I listed above are going to make much of a difference.

Keith Taylor
Hallowell