Volume 8
Number 1, Winter 1999
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adobe pdf format.
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The Margaret Chase Smith
Essay: What Would Margaret Chase Smith Have Made of Bill
Clinton's Tragi-Comedy?
by Charles Calhoun |
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FORUMS: |
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Housing Policies
in Maine: A Historical Overview
In this article, Frank O’Hara traces the
evolution of Maine’s housing policies.
In doing so, O’Hara points out that our
approach to housing has always reflected more than a
desire to ensure every person has adequate shelter. Instead, Maine’s housing policies have been the vital core
of larger efforts to create vibrant and diverse
community centers.
by Frank O'Hara |
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Maine's
Future Housing Needs: An MPR Interview with David
Lakari
David Lakari, president and chair of the Main State
Housing Authority, focuses on his concerns for the
future, in particular, the need to find suitable
housing options for Maine’s middle-income elderly.
Unfortunately, efforts to address this future
housing shortage may be hampered by the federal
government’s declining commitment to subsidize
affordable housing.
Lakari discusses the implications of these
factors and their potential effects on housing costs
and homelessness. |
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Ten Years of Affordable Housing
Policy: Is Maine Making Progress? A Symposium
In this symposium, MPR asked four individuals to comment on the
recommendations put forward by Governor McKernan’s 1988 Task Force
on Affordable Housing. Did
Maine accomplish what it said was important ten years ago? Given the state’s current dearth of affordable housing for
middle- and low-income families, does the Task Force’s
recommendations offer sound advice now?
by Elizabeth Mitchell,
Dennis P. King, James B. Hatch and Jay Hardy |
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A Challenge for the Next Decade:
Preserving Affordable Rental Housing
Over the years, much of the development of Section 8 housing projects
has been assisted by financial incentives and agreements between
private and non-profit owners and the federal government.
Yet, recent changes in federal legislation remove many of these
incentives and the agreements that go with them, placing the state’s
supply of affordable housing in jeopardy. Burns argues that local and state officials must do what they
can now to keep the state’s already scarce supply of affordable
housing in place.
by Laura Burns |
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The Importance of Moderately Priced
Rental Housing to Continued Economic Growth (Or, Portland's Rental
Housing Plight)
Currently, the Greater Portland area is experiencing a significant
shortage in both subsidized rental housing and moderately priced,
market-rate rental housing. The
problem, according to MacLean, is developers are finding that new,
market-rate housing is too expensive to build in Portland.
MacLean discusses the circumstances that have led to
Portland’s current shortage in rental housing and concludes with a
discussion about reducing the costs of construction.
by Erin MacLean |
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Community Land Trusts: Permanently
Affordable, Resident-Controlled Housing
Community Land Trusts (CLTs) represent an attempt to build
community and solve an affordable housing problem for Maine’s
low-income residents. In
this article Stocking outlines the history of Community Land Trusts in
Maine and provides several examples of successful CLTs.
Stocking argues that CLTs make wise use if scarce housing
subsidy dollars.
by Fred Stocking |
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Appreciating the House: Housing as an
Investment
For many, buying a home represents the fulfillment of a lifelong
dream. However, the
problem with buying a house is that you can’t buy a small share of
it. A house is an
all-or-nothing deal whose value often dwarfs that of any other single
investment. Wasserman
explores the future of housing investment, where it may be possible to
own residential real estate without facing the same level of risk that
homeowners do today.
by Miriam Wasserman |
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Funding Maine's Mortgage Market (Or,
Who Sets Mortgage Rates Anyway?)
Maine’s mortgage business is part of a complex web of
international markets that, for all practical purposes, has taken
rate-setting away from Maine lenders and provided Maine consumers with
choice rates. In this
short brief, Chris Pinkham discusses the complexity of mortgage
lending and its impact on the Maine economic scene.
by Chris Pinkham |
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Homeless in Maine: Who Is? Who Might
Be Tomorrow? What Do We Do About It?
The December 1998 denial by the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development to fund Maine’s applications for homeless
assistance catapulted the needs of this vulnerable population to top
priority status. In this
article, Suzanne Guild provides a thorough description of who
comprises Maine’s homeless population and offers four prescriptions
for assistance.
by Suzanne Guild |
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Maine's Homeless Families: An
Interview with Helen Hemminger
Since 1991 Helen Hemminger has been director of The Tedford
Shelter, a homeless shelter serving adults and families in the
Brunswick area. In this
interview, Hemminger provides a first- hand account of the rising
number of homeless families and provides her thoughts on how best to
help them. |
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Adolescent Homelessness: A Roundtable
Discussion
Where do homeless adolescents come from?
Are there more homeless youth today that ten years ago?
How do we help these youth?
What do they need? These
questions form the core of a MPR roundtable discussion with community
leaders, advocates for the homeless, and policymakers. |
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