Housing

Maine's Housing Opportunity Program is a state-funded initiative designed to create more housing, especially for low- and moderate-income individuals and families. The program offers down payment and closing cost assistance, as well as low-interest rate mortgages and education on homeownership responsibilities. The goal of the program is to make homeownership more accessible and sustainable for Maine residents, particularly in rural areas.

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The Housing Opportunity Program:

• Provides technical assistance to municipalities to support housing development, including support with municipal ordinance development to comply with LD 2003;

• Provides funding to service providers and municipalities to support municipal ordinance development, planning board and public processes in communities to increase housing opportunities;

• Provides information to the public about housing development and opportunities; and

• Establishes statewide housing production goals.

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Find out more information on the State's website here.

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Housing Opportunity Program Grants

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The Housing Opportunity Program has grant funding available to financially assist service providers and municipalities with municipal ordinance development, community housing planning services, and community housing implementation services.

 

This grant program recently released rule. The Department Economic and Community Development will soon solicit applications for grants through the competitive application process.

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Rule: 19-100 C.M.R. ch. 4, Rule Regarding Housing Opportunity Program Grants (Word)

Summary of Comments and Responses

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MCOG's Housing Opportunity Program

MCOG has received a Housing Opportunity Program grant to fund both data collection and convening of working groups in the MCOG region. See below for more information.

Data Collection

• Housing Supply. An analysis of housing supply has been completed for our 3 subregions and for the MCOG region as a whole (including Lincoln County). That analysis can be found here.

• Housing Demand.  A baseline of demand by demographics has been completed and can be found here.

• Housing Needs Assessment. The needs assessment culminated in is a Housing GAP analysis that, as a planning document, is also linked to MCOG’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy that we are completing for our EDA designated economic development district. The report can be found here: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b5d4d0c93a6a46818265251ac3bf9ff3 .

• Qualitative Housing Needs Assessments. Structured interviews have been conducted for 29 of our proposed 35 employers in the MCOG region.

Working Groups​

• Subregional Working Groups and Forums have all been established. The Fiver Rivers Group (Brunswick, Harpswell and Sagadahoc County), the Knox County group, and the Waldo County group have met multiple times.

• Input gathered at the subregional forums. Input from the subregional housing forums, which have been meeting on roughly a monthly basis (with the exception of Waldo) have produced requests for more defined information by subregion and a focus on particular housing strategies (as anticipated in the scope of work). Data and outcomes from those forums can be found below:

  • PowerPoints:

    • Five Rivers Region​

    • Knox County

    • Waldo County

  • Housing Guidance Materials​

    • Short-Term Rentals​

    • Preservation of Local Housing

    • Healthy Housing Initiative

    • Missing Middle Framework

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