WARREN, Maine — Earlier this month, a legislative panel looking at affordable housing in Maine went public with its findings. The story is a sobering one.
Rental assistance for the working poor is in short supply. Those lucky enough to get a housing voucher can languish on waiting lists for years.
And average rents in Maine, the panel found, are twice what extremely low-income households can afford.
Our series on poverty in Maine this week continues with the story of a woman who knows just how hard it can be to find and keep a place to live when money is in short supply.
Kelley Long's tiny, one bedroom house sits up on a hill in Warren. The location couldn't be more convenient. It's just a short walk to the grocery store, where Long, who's 49, works as a cashier.
"My daughter has nicknamed it the Hobbit House," she says, "cause this is the first time I've ever been anywhere where I can actually reach the ceiling and not have to stand on something."
Long, who loves to cook, has just pulled a plateful of freshly baked blueberry muffins out of the oven. A short hallway off the kitchen leads to Long's tiny bed and bathrooms.
"Really tiny bathroom," she says. "You have to step out into this hallway to dry off and change your mind."
The house may be small, but Long says its also cute and quiet. It's got a nice backyard too, a place where her three kids and three grandchildren can come and hang out when the weather turns warmer.
Long has lived here for just under two months and says she may just settle in for awhile. But recent experience has taught her to be cautious about what the future may bring.
"When I first experienced my first taste of homelessness, I was living in Richmond, my youngest one and I," she says. "It was scary."
It was 2009 and Long was engaged and had been working for several years in a food service job. The family moved in with her fiancee. But shortly after, the relationship ended.
Long says she and her daughter then bounced around, staying with family and friends. Long eventually left her job for another food service position at a convenience store, offering better pay and health insurance. She found another place to live.
But a year or so later, she says she got injured on the job.
"As soon as I got hurt, I didn't have any money coming in," she says. "So I couldn't pay rent and got asked to leave that place."
A temporary place in Windsor didn't work out. So Long moved in with her brother and reached out to the Knox County Homeless Coalition for help.
She moved to Hospitality House, a shelter in Rockport, when a space opened up there earlier this year. Long began working with a case manager, who helped her apply for Section 8 and other housing assistance programs.
"We have people sitting in shelters, with vouchers, for way too long," says Stephanie Primm, who runs the Knox County Homeless Coalition.
She says there just isn't enough affordable housing in the area to meet the demand. The coalition, Primm says, has around 300 people on its caseload, looking for permanent housing.
It's a problem that exists in all parts of the state, says Ann Acheson, a poverty researcher at UMaine's Margaret Chase Smith Policy Center.
"It's beyond the means of most even middle-income people to be able to afford rentals in the state," she says. "Rental housing availability has not kept up with the demand and costs have increased greatly. There are a lot of people in Maine who are paying over 50 percent of their income for just housing."
Long has been fortunate. Through her work as a grocery store clerk, she heard about an opening for a place that accepted Section 8 vouchers — the one her daughter now calls the Hobbit House. The total rent, she says, is $675 dollars a month.
"My portion is $152," she says.
Long earns $8.50 an hour and works 28-30 hours a week, for a monthly paycheck of around $1,000. She also gets $16 a month in food stamps. It's pretty tight, but Long says she's determined to keep this latest roof over her head.
"I'm getting guidance and learning how to budget," she says. "I've made do on a lot less. So, I'm thankful for what I have."
