Maine Affordable Housing Coalition -MAHC

06/10/2026

Last week, MAHC attended the annual Build Maine conference in Skowhegan to learn about the latest land use strategies being used to build livable, affordable communities throughout our state! From transportation to housing supply, the insights were incredible.

Check out a few highlights from the week:

🔹 Photo 1: A big welcome to our new Partnerships & Coalition Director, Emmy Ham! She hit the ground running and joined us at the conference on her third day on the job.
🔹 Photo 2: Sarah Goodyear, author of Life After Cars, spoke on the critical link between transportation and housing affordability, reminding us: "being able to walk in your community is a human right."
🔹 Photo 3: Liz Kozub and Kim Graziani of the Center for Community Progress discussed tackling vacant properties and shared updates on their work with Maine Redevelopment.
🔹 Photo 4: Eric Kronberg shared creative strategies for breaking down the barriers that hold communities back from increasing their housing supply.

Congratulations to Kara Wilbur and the Build Maine team on another fantastic year of learning and partnership! 👏

06/09/2026

🗳️ It’s Election Day in Maine! Beyond the state primary races and school budget votes, several towns have major local housing and zoning initiatives on the ballot today.

Local policies like these are often where the most immediate impact on housing affordability and development happens. Here’s a quick guide to what voters are deciding in Rockland, Bar Harbor, and Bridgton!

Every vote shapes the future of our communities. Most polls are open until 8:00 PM tonight. If you are casting an absentee ballot, remember it must be in your municipal clerk's hands or an official drop box by 8:00 PM tonight!

06/08/2026

Our community is growing and paving the way nationally for smart, impactful housing policy! 💪✨

There is so much to celebrate in our latest newsletter. We’re looking back at a fantastic June member meeting featuring an inspiring presentation by Common Energy on sustainable energy solutions for housing. Plus, join us in giving a big welcome to the newest member of the MAHC team, Emmy Ham!

Catch up on all the advocacy updates, local progress, and team news here: https://mailchi.mp/mainehousingcoalition/mahc-news-events-maine-leads-the-nation-on-housing-policy-mahc-advocacy-more-10154901

06/03/2026

MAHC is thrilled to announce that Emmy Ham will be serving as MAHC's first ever Partnerships and Coalition Director. With grant support, this new role marks an important step forward in expanding MAHC’s statewide coalition-building, education and membership engagement efforts as Maine works to address its housing shortage.

Emmy brings a deep passion for housing policy, coalition-building, and organizational development, along with experience spanning affordable housing, advocacy, and stakeholder engagement across New England and beyond.

Like many housing professionals, this work found her through direct experience with the transformative impact stable housing can have on individuals, families, communities, and local economies.

Emmy’s housing journey began at Avesta Housing helping people find a home. That experience sparked a long-term commitment to housing as both an economic and community development issue. Since then, Emmy has served in leadership and organizational roles focused on advancing housing policy and building strong collaborative partnerships. She earned her Master’s in Public Administration from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, where she focused on housing policy and the development of housing-focused organizations.

With MAHC, Emmy will help strengthen statewide partnerships, expand outreach and engagement efforts, and grow MAHC's influence as the lead housing advocate in Maine.

As Maine faces a shortage of more than 80,000 homes by 2030, expanding MAHC’s organizational capacity is critical to building the broad coalition needed to advance housing solutions across the state. Please join us in welcoming Emmy to the team!

06/02/2026

“My biggest take away from this legislative session is there’s so much to do,” Mitchell says. “And all of us at MAHC are just super energized to keep moving housing policy forward in Maine because all Maine people deserve a home.” Build Homes, Build Community Maine, Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, Maine State Chamber of Commerce, Maine Real Estate and Development Association

Recent legislative action will have some positive impact on the housing shortage, but advocates stress there is more work to be done to reach the state’s goal of creating 84,000 more homes by 2030.

05/28/2026

PORTLAND, Maine – Community Housing of Maine (CHOM) announced that its Board of Directors has selected Kyra Walker as Executive Director, following her service as Interim Executive Director and prior leadership roles with the organization. 

05/12/2026

05/08/2026

www.bathhousing.org/540

05/08/2026

Congrats to MAHC board member Sam Lebel at Acorn Engineering!

05/05/2026

MAHC appreciated the opportunity to "discuss" housing with Dan Kleban at Maine Beer Company.

Q: What is the single biggest regulatory ingredient we need to change to make housing affordable for working families again?

A: There is no single silver bullet. But action is imperative, and we can’t let complexity become an excuse for inaction.

Housing costs rise because of layering: local zoning restrictions, state environmental rules, building codes, federal financing requirements, and long, unpredictable approval timelines. The biggest cost driver isn’t one rule—it’s the misalignment of all the local, state, and federal demands that creates delay, uncertainty, and risk. And risk always gets priced into the cost of housing for the person living there.

Fragmented systems create expensive homes.

Aligned systems create attainable homes.

That means the solution is also layered. There are 20 ways we can reduce the cost of building by $5,000. We need to do all 20. MAHC prioritizes a few of those every year.

Part 2 of "Another Round" With Laura Mitchell, executive director of the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition