When it comes to Maine's housing shortage, the state may have an even higher hill to climb than initially projected.
At MaineHousing's conference in Bangor Tuesday, State economist Amanda Rector said Maine's prime working age population is expected to drop by 5% by 2032. And she said that means Maine will need to rely on workers migrating into the state to buoy an aging workforce.
"In order to continue to see the kinds of services that we are all used to expecting, our labor force just isn't set up right now to continue to provide that," Rector said.
Rector, said adding workers will put more pressure on the state' housing inventory. At the same time, she says that economic forecasters have already pointed to Maine's tight housing market as a reason for why net migration into state has slowed in recent years.
Governor Janet Mills, also at the conference, touted the progress she says her administration has made in addressing the state's housing shortage.
Mills says more than 1,800 units are under construction, and 1,500 more homes are in various stages of development, the largest development pipeline in MaineHousing's history.
But Mills blamed the Trump administration for slowing further progress, and implementing tariffs that she says are increasing home construction costs at a time when Maine can least afford it.
"The administration in Washington is only making things difficult, making building homes and apartments more expensive," Mills said. "Thanks to the president's tariffs on building materials, softwood lumber prices were nearly six-percent higher at the end of August than they were a year ago."
Mills acknowledged that community resistance is also holding Maine back in its efforts to grow the housing supply. And she urged Mainers to say yes to local projects that make sense for their area.
