Everyone in southern Maine concerned with housing affordability or any sort of equity should read this report by @JLevineDUSP : https://www.gpcog.org/DocumentCenter/View/1633/Multi-family-housing-and-land-use-regulation-report-by-Jeff-Levine

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Here in Portland, we're facing a housing affordability crisis--year after year, our shelters are past capacity, our own teachers cannot afford to live in the neighborhoods they educate, and young families are being forced out of the city. 2/13

Portlanders may remember the refugee crisis in the summer of 2019, when a surprise influx of refugees were forced to sleep in the expo building all summer because the largest city in the state could not find 400 affordable units in which to house them. 3/13

Portland isn't the only place with an affordability problem--we are surrounded by some of the wealthiest communities in the state (Falmouth, Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland), where unaffordable housing leads to the hoarding of resources, such as the best schools in the state. 4/13

The cheapest way to make housing available is to use the housing we have more efficiently. These communities are full of large, old buildings that could house multiple families, but are trapped in zones that simply do not allow multi-family housing. 5/13

Zoning that only allows for single family housing not only wastes much-needed housing--it creates socio-economic segregation (which leads to racial segregation) and forces sprawl development when denser development is better for the environment. 6/13

This is where we come to the report, which tells us that due to restrictive zoning, multi-family development is not allowed on 35% of the land in the Greater Portland Area, and heavily restricted on another 50%. 7/13

"Heavily restricted" often looks like requiring unreasonably large lots for multi-unit housing, so housing in existing neighborhoods cannot be converted because existing lot sizes are too small. 8/13

The worst offender is South Portland, where multi-family units are banned on 74% of the land. Some of this is due to the mall and other commercial/industrial uses, but much of the land is simply residential neighborhoods that are single-family-only. 9/13

In @CityPortland, multi-unit housing is banned on half our land. Again, there are good reasons for some of this--for example, islands might not have infrastructure to support denser development. But in places like North Deering, this zoning is pointless and damaging. 10/13

These are things we can change: In Portland, we are in the middle of rewriting the land use code and could change the way we're using our land. You can follow that process (and let them know you want to see more multi-family zoning!!) at this link. 11/13 https://www.recodeportland.me 

In surrounding towns where a rewrite is not actively on progress, you can still make an impact! Take the time to find your town in the report, and write to your councilor to ask them why multi-family housing is so restricted. 12/13

Rezoning is an issue of affordability, education (education is funded by taxes on property value), transportation (sprawl = less public transit), segregation, and equity. We already have the resources we need to make our communities stronger and more accessible! 13/13

If you don't live in one of the communities covered in this report, the zoning ordinance in your town is also publicly available! DM me and I'll help you find it and break down what it means for your community :)