LEWISTON, Maine — On Thursday, advocates and renters gathered at the Lewiston offices of the Maine People's Alliance, calling for greater tenants' rights, and a limit to the power of landlords.
"The element I want to work into the conversation is the counterbalance between the owning class and the tenant class," Chris McKinnon, a volunteer with the Maine People’s Alliance, said Thursday.
He said they are calling for greater rent stabilization and limits on how much landlords can increase renters' payments.
Rent caps and restrictions are nothing new to Maine. The cities of Portland and South Portland have put such policies in place. But some at Thursday’s meeting felt cracking down on rent raising should become a statewide, and even nationwide policy.
"To prevent more of our neighbors from becoming unhoused, we need rent caps and tenant protections at the federal level," Kate Gardner with the Maine People’s Alliance wrote in a press release. “In a country where many are just one paycheck away from homelessness, these measures are essential."
But this plan has fierce critics. Joel Stetkis, the chair of the Maine GOP and a professional contractor, believes capping rent will discourage developers from building new units.
"You’re absolutely de-incentivizing folks to take hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, to invest in housing," Stetkis said in a Zoom interview Thursday.
He argued government deregulation would bring costs down for developers and speed up the process by freeing developers of red tape.
"Let’s make it less arduous for everybody to participate in building these units that Mainers desperately need," Stetkis said.
Indeed, this kind of approach has allies across the aisle. The Mills Administration has passed measures, like LD 2003, which directs municipalities to loosen zoning requirements to allow for multi-unit dwellings.
But with the issue of rent caps still debated, the fact remains that affordable housing remains out of reach for many Mainers.