After nearly a year of study, the Portland City Council is poised to act on measures to help ease what has been described as a housing crisis in Maine’s largest city.
The proposals that will be considered Monday night, however, do not touch on ways the city can increase the amount of housing – either through selling city land for development or by tweaking zoning rules.
Instead, the package of five reforms, which would add a “Tenant Housing Rights” section to a city ordinance, focuses primarily on housing insecurity by increasing the amount of notice for rent increases from 45 days to 75 days, establishing a seven-member tenant-landlord commission, increasing education of tenants and landlords by requiring both to sign a document explaining at-will tenancy, and creating a leaflet of rights and responsibilities for both parties, among other things.
Mayor Ethan Strimling says the reforms recommended by the council’s Housing Committee do not go far enough. He had previously released his own series of proposals that included placing limits on rent increases and mass evictions.
However, Strimling abandoned those proposals after the city attorney raised questions about their legality. On Monday, Strimling said he plans to advocate for four additional proposals that he’s co-sponsoring with Councilors Spencer Thibodeau and Jon Hinck.
One amendment, first proposed by Thibodeau as a so-called leeway program, would require landlords to provide a 90-day notice to tenants when ending at-will tenancies, which under state law can be done with only 30 days’ notice. Landlords could reduce that notification period by 30 days by paying the tenant $500, or by 60 days by paying $1,000.
Thibodeau said he is not sure whether the proposal, which failed to gain support at the committee level, will fare better before the full council, but he’s eager for a vote.
“Ultimately we need to make a statement about whether this 90 days is important,” he said. “I think it is and I think this plan strikes a pretty good balance between landlords and tenants.”
Another amendment would prevent landlords from discriminating against low-income tenants by requiring landlords to accept housing vouchers, as long as those vouchers are enough to cover the rent. Currently, landlords must voluntarily opt in to the housing voucher program, and some advertise that they do not accept housing vouchers, which Strimling described as “de facto discrimination.”
“If we can get these passed, I will feel like we have made some significant steps forward in dealing with housing insecurity in our city,” Strimling said.
Other amendments would ensure that information about tenant and landlord rights and responsibilities be available in multiple languages, and establish a housing ombudsman to provide impartial information to landlords and tenants.
The Rental Housing Advisory Committee being recommended by the Housing Committee would comprise three renters, three landlords and a resident appointed by the council. The committee, which would meet at least on a quarterly basis, would compile housing data, report annually to the Housing Committee and provide the recommendations.
The committee’s recommendations also call on the city to incorporate the Maine Human Rights Act prohibition against discrimination into city ordinance – a move that would have little practical effect, since that law already applies to landlords and tenants.
The housing reforms being recommended by the committee fall short of measures being promoted by the Portland Coalition for Housing Justice, which includes representatives from the Portland Tenants Union, Homeless Voices for Justice, Preble Street and Shalom House.
That group wanted the council to enact a moratorium on no-cause evictions (or ending at-will tenancies with 30 days’ notice) and rent control, among other things.
None of three organizers for that group responded to requests for comment.
Strimling formed the five-member Housing Committee shortly after taking office last year, as rents were increasing rapidly and low-income residents were being displaced by landlords looking to improve their units to get higher rents.
The committee was charged with developing regional solutions to the housing crunch, tweaking zoning and permitting rules to encourage more housing construction, identifying city-owned parcels for housing development, and planning for five new housing-first projects for the chronically homeless.
The committee held a series on meetings to gather information from experts, stakeholders and area residents. Neighborhood leaders and housing advocates began highlighting the need to address housing security, which has dominated the committee’s discussion to this point.
The package being considered by the council received a 5-0 recommendation from the committee.
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