James B. Hatch on today’s op-ed page answers a question on an issue that made front-page news 10 years ago then seemed to disappear from the public- policy arena: What happened to Maine’s plans to significantly increase its amount of affordable housing? As anyone who has looked at the numbers of people who are homeless or near-homeless, it is a question worth asking.

It is, in fact, one of several questions about housing posed by the most recent edition of Maine Policy Review. The quick answer is provided by Mr. Hatch, who writes, “I regret to report that the climate for affordable housing, or for that matter for housing development of any kind, is worse than I have ever seen it.” More detailed answers are to be found in the review, which is available beginning today through the Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy at the University of Maine.

With one of the highest rates of home-ownership in the nation, Maine would not seem to be the kind of place that needed to worry about housing. But a combination rising rental costs, federal regulations and an aging population bring new challenges to the housing field. Consider that even during the Maine’s lengthy economic expansion the number of people in the state’s emergency shelters actually increased slightly, from 8,456 in 1994 to 8,506 in 1997. And this, of course, doesn’t count Maine’s near homeless. According to Suzanne Guild, a former research director for the Maine State Housing Authority, the General Assistance Program spent $12 million in 1998 keeping 61,400 Maine residents from losing their housing.

The 1988 Governor’s Task Force on Affordable Housing tried to provide more housing through the now-defunct Affordable Housing Alliance, cost-effective cosntruction, easier banking terms for builders and a greater federal role. Most of its recommendations either were not acted upon or were not supported long enough to have an effect. The result was to leave the public thinking that housing shortages had been addressed when it is fairer to say, legislatively anyway, that they had too ofen been ignored.

The policy review contains several suggestions for improving access to affordable housing, from streamlining the General Assistance process to providing low-income tax credits to creating community land trusts, which ensure affordable housing prices indefinitely. Serious consideration of these ideas by lawmakers could produce creative solutions to this long-ignored problem. The public could also benefit by understanding that just because news about the housing shortage stopped doesn’t mean the shortage went away.