Maine Senate gives initial approval to Sen. Curry bill to support affordable housing development

AUGUSTA — Today, the Maine Senate gave initial approval to LD 2057, “An Act to Support Rehabilitation and Development of Affordable Housing,” sponsored by Sen. Chip Curry, D-Belfast. The bill is designed to help Maine build and preserve more affordable housing by improving how projects are financed. The bill advanced by a vote of 22-13.

“This bill is about lowering the cost of building housing and helping more projects move forward,” said Sen. Curry. “When outdated rules make housing more expensive to finance, those costs don’t disappear — they show up in higher rents and fewer homes being built. By updating these rules to better reflect how housing is financed today, we can make our existing housing dollars go further and help increase the supply of housing that Maine people can afford.”

LD 2057, as amended, updates how MaineHousing can issue construction loans by removing outdated requirements and allowing the agency to finance projects more flexibly. The changes are intended to reduce unnecessary barriers and help stretch limited housing dollars further.

LD 2057 now faces additional votes in the House and Senate.

Sen. Curry is serving his third term in the Maine Senate, representing all of Waldo County. He serves as the Senate Chair of the Housing and Economic Development Committee and sits on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

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