Housing

The Issues: Maine has some of the oldest housing stock in the nation, and the highest rate of second homeownership as well. This means that safe, affordable and adequate housing is out of reach for many of our neighbors. According to a report by MaineHousing, the income needed to afford a median priced home in the state has increased 187 % between 2015 and 2024. In that same period, the state's median income only went up 44 %. Without available workforce housing, our small businesses and critical service providers are suffering from a lack of employees, and a reduction in customers and a diminished volunteer capacity. This is as much an economic burden as it is a humanitarian one. Enact state legislation that facilitates the swift return to the market of foreclosed upon and abandoned properties.

What we can do about it:

• Innovative financing, such as the USDA Section 502 and guaranteed programs, and MSHA programs have been instrumental in housing generations of vulnerable Americans. As the federal government withdraws support and critical funding, Maine has the opportunity to work with our housing authority and partner organizations to make new and innovative ownership programming available.

  • We can create a state-based subsidized housing program that is based on income, and is build on graduated credit. As your income increases, the subsidized interest rate decreases, allowing for graduation to a traditional mortgage and the building of equity.

  • Expanding the first generation programming, and first time homebuyer credit programs, growing the “purchase plus repair” options, as well as creating a state-based mutual self-help building program can all help to quickly increase Maine’s stock of affordable, and safe housing.

  • Supporting the Area Housing Authorities in standing up a program designed to help older and retired Mainer’s downsize their housing to something easier to care for through a matchmaking program with families to meet the needs of all.

• Reducing regulatory barriers to new development, right-sizing ordinances regarding development and short term rentals, and funding site work/infrastructure can all be employed to address the issue and get people housed.

• We need to create a state seeded, low interest Rural Housing Revolving Loan Fund to assist small-scale developers in renovating and rehabbing existing homes in small and rural communities.

Childcare

The issues: Affordable childcare remains a significant barrier to workforce participation, particularly for parents in rural regions and small communities. With the number of children needing care exceeding the current number of spaces at licensed childcare providers, access is equally as important as affordability. When families cannot source childcare they are forced to forgo much needed income, permanently hinder their careers (this ends up being disproportionately detrimental to women) or leave their communities.

What we can do about it:

• Expansion of daycare capacity, supported through state and local subsidies, supports both family wellbeing and labor force stability, which in turn will allow for economic development.

• Create additional low cost and no cost childcare access through the deployment of state subsidies and waivers.

• Maine’s public preschool (pre-k) initiatives and mobile bus programs have demonstrated strong positive outcomes, enabling parents to work and children to access early learning and intervention services. We must defend these programs against cuts and grow their offerings and reach.

• We need to expand loan repayment and housing incentives for rural providers, tie childcare availability to workforce and business growth programs, and support integrated health centers combining primary, dental, and behavioral care to make childcare centers viable through shared income.

Food Security and Access

The Issues: Maine has the unique position of being the first place in the U.S. to see the sunrise and that remoteness means that importing food to our beautiful state relies on longer (and therefore more expensive) supply chains. We have smaller farms, higher energy costs than other parts of the country )which means that our state-produced food is more limited to the short growing season) and given the transportation and distribution limitations of an aging road infrastructure it costs a bit more to get our goods to market. The result? Our food prices are higher than the national average, we only spend about $312 PER YEAR, per person, on Maine grown food. We also have a higher than average food insecurity rate - In Maine, 191,920 people are facing hunger - and of them 50,610 are children (Feeding America). Seasonal jobs, high health care, energy and housing costs compete for household dollars and reduce grocery budgets.

What we can do about it:

• Supporting local agriculture expansion, Maine’s fisheries, and food distribution systems with targeted sector investments will reduce reliance on long supply chains and bring prices down while supporting the economic health of Maine farms and fishermen.

• Supporting right-sized processing infrastructure, matching dollars for local food purchasing, and training for scratch food preparation are all strategies for reducing food insecurity and supporting our growers and harvesters.

• Investing in rural transportation and mobile food access will reduce barriers to access for families and elders. Bringing healthy food to people reduces the likelihood that they will rely on non-food stores for critical meal purchasing.

• Creating affordable childcare options allows parents to have a greater choice of workplace - they can identify higher paying jobs, increasing household budgets which allows for greater food purchasing capacity.

• Supporting and expanding programs like Mainers Feeding Mainers, Fuishermen Feeding Mainers, and Hunters for the Hungry all create flexible and much needed food access.

Taxes

The Issues: Taxes are a perennial issue facing Mainers. Although our state falls in at about #26 overall for tax competitiveness that is cold comfort when our household dollars are stretched thinner and thinner, and we have tax burdens that are not aligned with business size, household income, and other determining factors. There are many tax relief bills moving through Maine’s legislature that will help but the facts remain - we have a large state (geographically) to maintain, a small population (we are the 42nd least populated state) and an aging one (we are the oldest state in the nation) and we need to address those costs in a less burdensome way.

What we can do about it: So, what can we do to reduce the tax burden that is forcing folks into inadequate housing, reducing our ability to save for emergencies, and still isn’t adequate to fund the critical services we need? One way to address these issues is to grow the base. Make the economy bigger and more productive so the same (or lower) rates raise more revenue.

• We can engage in targeted sector growth - healthcare, clean energy, advanced manufacturing, heritage industries, and tourism shoulder seasons.

• We can support Maine’s small businesses in ways that allow them to retain more of their revenue to re-invest in their businesses. Growing businesses grows our shared revenue base. Ensuring that we are right-sizing the tax burdens on small and midsized businesses helps communities thrive by encouraging sustainable growth.

  • This includes examining the Business Equipment Tax structures and providing municipalities with alternative revenue plans to alleviate these taxes on small, Maine owned businesses.

• We focus on talent attraction and retention by recruiting young workers, immigrants, returning Mainers, and remote workers by providing relocation incentives, streamlined licensing for in‑migrants, marketing Maine as a “work from here” state, support for international students to stay - thereby increasing our tax and consumer base.

Health Care

The Issues: Maine’s rural health care system is plagued by high operating costs, low reimbursement rates, and workforce challenges. Nearly half of Mainers are uninsured or under-insured. Maine’s healthcare challenges are predominantly structural - we face a very rural geography, an aging population requiring specialists, high overhead and as a result approximately half of our rural hospitals are facing closure - many have already reduced services and closed walk-in clinics and maternity units. Our medical providers are aging as well, with ~32% 60 years of age or older - we must increase the number of residencies available to attract and retain younger physicians, and this requires stabilization of our hospitals through targeted investment.

What we can do about it:

• Support family caregivers through tax credits, respite services, and training - these actions support people with chronic illness and elders to age in place with an increased quality of care, reducing the high cost emergency visits which cost hospitals more than they recover in payments.

• Defend and preserve telehealth payment parity to ensure a greater equity of access to services. Increase state support for mobile health care for non-emergency services and primary care visits.

• Support reducing student loan debt by creating incentives for Maine students to engage in residency programs here at home that include loan forgiveness and reduction, and offer housing vouchers for doctors in residency programs to offset high housing costs, encouraging them to practice in Maine.

• Increase the rate of reimbursement of MaineCare, especially for caregiver and waiver based services (Sec. 29, home based supports, work supports, DSP, etc.) and for our medical providers - approximately 30% if Mainers are covered by MaineCare and the rate of reimbursement is inadequate. We must consider increasing the rate as a way to invest in a healthy workforce, and community which can in the long term lead to lower overall health care spending.

• Create a state funded and managed public option as an alternative to the current insurance offerings.

• Consider expanding the use of health care dollars for flexible healthy meals programs. Allowing the use of a small portion of MaineCare dollars to augment the SNAP program through healthy and medically tailored meal programs will support individuals with chronic diet-related illness to reduce their use of medical services and save the state program money in the long run.

Heritage Industries

The Issues: Maine’s heritage industries (farming, fishing and forestry) are all cultural touchstones, and economic drivers for the state. They face challenges brought about by shifting market access, aging infrastructure and workforce, regulatory barriers and climate driven uncertainties that reduce revenue and incur significant costs to manage. When wharves are washing away annually in “100 year storms”, droughts (and floods) destroy grazing land, and thawed logging roads damage equipment and prevent professional logging contractors from getting to their harvest sites, the effects are immediate - we lose businesses that we can’t get back. There are only 131 dairy farms remaining in the state of Maine, fewer than 20 miles of working waterfront, and a daunting set of challenges to processing timber.

What we can do about it:

• We need to ensure that we are supporting state-level market growth by reducing regulatory barriers - this can involve offering greater flexibility for pilot programs that support R&D and small business development, while mitigating environmental and industry risks.

• Strengthen local food, wood, and seafood procurement for use in schools and state institutions through the implementation of incentives, and state sponsored training for their uses.

• Provide state level grants modeled on successful federal programs such as the USDA Value Added Producer Grant. Increase state support for processing and transportation infrastructure - this can be expedited permitting, state procurement support for small businesses, and limited-term tax incentives.

• Support state cost shared workforce housing development that allows people who work in these critical industries to remain as residents in the zip codes where decisions are being made about their livelihoods.

• Address insurance issues for small heritage industry businesss - create cost mitigation programs through the investment in climate resilient building materials that helps to de-risk insurance coverage,

• Consider a state seeded, low interest revolving loan fund for construction adaptation (to make the infrastructure more resilient to severe weather) to reduce the likliehood of high-cost claims.

Economic Development

All of the above! The issues outlined are ALL related to our overall economic health. We can’t live here, if we can’t make a living here - and that means addressing the barriers to success, some of which are outlined above.