Earlier this month, my colleagues and I in the Legislature passed a significant bill that will help Mainers stay warm and housed this winter. After facing initial opposition from Senate Republicans, the bipartisan Emergency Winter Energy Relief Plan successfully made its way to the Governor’s desk, delivering $450 direct relief checks to roughly 880,000 eligible Mainers, amounting to $900 in relief for the average family.
The measure also provides $40 million to supplement the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP), $10 million for Maine Community Action Partnerships (CAP) to help them deliver emergency fuel assistance and $21 million to bolster the Emergency Housing Relief Fund.
The income thresholds in the measure, $100,000 for single filers and $200,000 for those filing jointly, are set to make sure there are resources available for most Maine families that are feeling a financial strain right now. Incomes that once kept a family comfortable are just not the same. The rising costs of basic living expenses like housing, groceries, health care, child care and heat leave little left to keep families feeling secure. The passage of this bill, although signed into law later than we had hoped, will make a big impact.
Meanwhile, I’m looking ahead at opportunities to address some of the factors at the root of these cost increases. As a member of the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee, I am committed to working with my colleagues to find ways to make our energy supply more efficient and affordable. It just so happens that what is more affordable in the long run and more efficient overall is also better for our environment. That’s why I continue to support legislation that will further the development of Maine’s renewable energy infrastructure.
I am also committed to promoting solutions to our housing crisis. One barrier to housing development in certain parts of our state comes from a perceived tension between protecting our environment and reckless development. Having worked in the environmental permitting and inspection world for over 30 years, I’m all too familiar with this misleading framing.
When I first began doing this work, the available technology and expertise was such that it required multiple levels of review and oversight, particularly because local municipalities did not have the know-how or capacity to competently evaluate environmental impacts of certain development projects. Over the past 30 years, we have come a long way, and municipalities are doing really good work to make sure that our natural spaces are protected while allowing for the development of housing that is affordable and accessible to average Mainers. At the same time, new laws and regulations administered by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection provide excellent protection for streams, wetlands, shore lands and wildlife habitat.
Unfortunately, relics of a time when municipalities could not adequately evaluate risk remain and result in onerous and redundant permitting and review processes. This slows development and further exacerbates our housing availability and affordability issues. With fewer housing units on the market, the price of each individual home will stay high, remaining out of reach for far too many Mainers. That’s why I’ve introduced a bill that makes a small change to existing site law. This change would empower municipalities to handle permitting for a greater number of subdivision requests, streamlining the permitting process and enabling smart and responsible development to occur with greater ease.
Addressing our housing crisis and ensuring that Mainers can meet their basic needs will be key focuses for me this session. I look forward to continuing this work and welcome your input throughout the process. As always, if you need assistance accessing resources or navigating available programs, please reach out to me.
Rep. Jim Boyle, D-Gorham, is serving his second term in the Maine House of Representatives and previously served two years in the Maine State Senate. He is a member of the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee. Contact him at Jim.Boyle@legislature.maine.gov.