Maine State Housing Authority reopened its Emergency Rental Assistance Program March 1 and electronic and paper applications are available. The program was designed to offer help during the COVID-19 pandemic for ongoing and past due rent and utility payments incurred since March 13, 2020.
Eligible households vary by location and size and must be able to prove they are under a certain income and suffering financial difficulty and housing instability. Indicators might include higher utility bills, internet costs, grocery bills, childcare costs and household costs or medical bills incurred due to COVID-19. Indicators of housing instability include past due notices for rent or utilities, borrowing money for rent or eviction notices. Relief is not capped and is based on the outlined rent payment in the lease. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis until September 2021.
Rent relief slowly making its way to Maine tenants and landlords
The latest 2 federal stimulus packages have earmarked a total of $352 million for Maine to keep tenants housed and cover amounts owed to landlords and utility providers.
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Ivan Zhaya stands outside an apartment building in Portland’s West End. Zhaya lost his job in December and recently was approved for rent relief, for $3,300 owed for the first three months of this year and the same amount to cover April, May and June rent. Now he can work at paying down $40,000 in student loans, build up savings and consider buying a car. Derek Davis/Staff Photographer
The Maine State Housing Authority, known as MaineHousing, announced Tuesday it has allocated more than $30 million for nine affordable housing developments across the state.
The investment consists of $26.2 million in state and federal tax credits that will generate close to $70 million in equity from private investors, plus a $4.2 million subsidy, to build or renovate the developments.
MaineHousing said the funding will create or preserve 430 housing units, of which 388 will serve households at or below 60% of the area s median income.
Out of 15 proposals seeking nearly $12.6 million in federal funding, the Augusta-based agency selected nine developments for funding.
Projects include Szanton Co. s apartment project in downtown Bath, to provide 42 units affordable units for older adults, and new construction of 45 units of public housing in Maine s most populous city by the Portland Housing Authority. (See the full list below.)
Eye on Augusta: Legislature Passes Tax Breaks for 28,000 Businesses and 160,000 Unemployed Workers
by Andy OâBrien (Photo: Dan Kirchoff)
Andy O’Brien is communications director at Maine AFL-CIO. He is a former managing editor of The Free Press and a former state legislator. His Eye on Augusta column appears every other week in The Free Press. Last Thursday, the Maine Legislature passed a supplemental budget package that will provide a full state tax exemption to federal Paycheck Protection (PPP) grants for 28,000 profitable businesses as well as tax breaks on the first $10,200 of federal unemployment benefits for 160,000 unemployed workers.
Republicans initially blocked the two-thirds votes necessary to pass the spending package in order to demand another $32 million in additional business tax cuts, including foreign-derived intangible income, to mirror the federal tax code. However, during floor debate, Republican leaders could not ex
Kennebec Valley governments group nets $25K grant
The Working Communities Challenge Design Grant goes toward a project to focus on safe and affordable housing.
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FAIRFIELD The Kennebec Valley Council of Governments, a partner in the Southern Kennebec County Team, has been awarded a $25,000 design phase grant from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston as part of the Working Communities Challenge Program.
The six-month grant will allow the team to continue the essential work of ensuring safe and affordable housing to everyone in the community, while building up its infrastructure and partnerships in the hopes of continuing on to the implementation phase of the Working Communities Challenge with the support of the Boston Fed.