MSHA completes updated plan on housing affordability

AUGUSTA — An update of the Maine Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy has been made available by the Maine State Housing Authority and includes public comments made at public hearings in September. MSHA also will accept written comments until Friday, Dec. 4.

“We received many valuable comments that added substance to our housing plan during our public hearings in South Portland, Augusta and Old Town,” said Dwight Sewell, MSHA director.

“We hope interested Maine people will read the draft CHAS and offer us written comments during this 30-day period. The CHAS is important. It will direct the spending of federal housing funds and help establish the state’s housing policies for the next year,” he said.

HUD last year approved a five-year CHAS plan and Maine received $5 million in housing program funds this summer under the new HOME program and others. The draft being considered is a one-year update calling for priority spending to aid very low-income renters and homeowners, the homeless, and those with special housing needs. The second priority category includes low-income renters and homeowners.

The draft recommends spending federal funds first to meet housing needs and using state housing money for those needs for which there are no other funds.

Maine must complete a CHAS for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to receive federal funding for housing programs that include the HOME housing program.

For copies of the plan, write to MSHA, 353 Water St., P.O. Box 2669, Augusta 04338-2669, or call 452-4668.