Click here for more information.

And last fall, we had previously asked the same set of questions at a series of meetings with immigrants, not-so-recent immigrants, and long-time Mainers who were living in less than ideal circumstances: substandard housing, homelessness, joblessness. (for a detailed summary of the findings from these meetings click here, for the full report click here)

The large majority (70%) of those who answered the on-line survey made over $50,000 annually; 45% made more than $70,000 a year. So in that respect, these were very different populations, with one would think, very different perspectives.

But what was striking about these anecdotal results was the similarities.

• Why do they appreciate most about where they live? Overwhelmingly, people talked about the aesthetics of their environment, whether it was the natural environment (green, rural, ocean, wooded, quiet) or urban (streetscape, urban, historic, sense of place). Lots of enthusiasm for the beauty of our region.
• Maine is safe: A very high proportion also believes that Southern Maine, including Portland, is a very safe place to live.
• A good place to raise a family. Southern Maine, including Portland, is also considered a very good place to raise a family by the majority of respondents. The immigrant population noted that their children can get a good education and that people are open, friendly and accepting.
• Housing is an issue. There was also general agreement that housing is too expensive, with lots of concerns about heating costs and poor weatherization from all ends of the financial spectrum.
• As is transportation. The inadequacy of the public transportation system, where it exists, was of major concern. Most agreed that having a car or using a car was a necessity, though almost a third of on-line respondents also walked and used bikes to get around. Most of the immigrant population also used walking as their primary means of transportation, but they were more inclined to do so by necessity.

On a broader scale, it was interesting to see that the transportation responses translated into everyone’s desire to have easy access to goods and services. Even in rural areas, on-line respondents generally considered it a bad thing to be too far from these. In more urban areas, words like “convenience”, “close to” and “near to” were commonly used as positives. And those without access to cars equated the problem not as, “I want a car” but as, “I can’t reliably and easily get to work, appointments or the grocery store.”

What was different? The most striking difference was the point of view of long-time Mainers in difficult circumstances. This was the only group who did not feel safe, who did not think the urban area is a good place to raise a family, and who did not in general feel positive about their living situation, now or in the future. Their views were in stark opposition to newer Mainers, immigrants from a range of countries, who felt they had a lot to offer and were looking forward to contributing to the future of our region. Other issues highlighted were problems with lower-income rentals, primarily landlord unresponsiveness that translated not just to inadequate heat but to poorly maintained buildings and ongoing bedbug infestations.

What will we do with this information? All the information we gather at Sustain Southern Maine will be used to develop strategies to build a more sustainable future for the region.

In this case, we heard a broadly consistent message about what Mainers value in their lives and for the future. We also heard anecdotal evidence to support what statistics already indicate: that for many Mainers housing costs are still too high and our aging housing stock and dependence on heating oil is creating hardships and unbalancing budgets. Finally, we heard about the need and desire for better access to jobs and services, particularly among lower income populations.

By Carol Morris, Sustain Southern Maine Team Member

Specifically, we met with recent immigrants, not-so-recent immigrants, people in subsidized housing, people who were homeless, people who were almost homeless (they call it couch surfing) and people raising families in marginal circumstances.

For a range of reasons that include language barriers, lack of trust, or simply lack of time and interest, few of these individuals had previously been part of a planning process. Most were very pleased we came out to talk with them.

Essentially, we asked how they would rate their community, not just in terms of housing, jobs and transportation, but in general. Why do they live here? What do they like about their neighborhood? What’s missing?

We’d like to have that same conversation with all of you. From a planning standpoint, it will be interesting to hear if and how people who are generally more engaged in thinking about their community’s future (and if you’re reading this blog, you probably fall in that category) feel differently than those folks we talked with directly.

We’ll make the usual caveat here, that neither of these two “conversations” represent a valid sampling of any of these populations. But anecdotally, it will be an interesting comparison.

Please take the survey and let us know where your neighborhood and community excels and where it doesn’t.  At the end of January, we’ll publish the results and compare them with what we heard earlier. We suspect there will be some surprises.

By Carol Morris, Sustain Southern Maine Team Member

January, 2013

As part of Sustain Southern Maine’s Capacity Building efforts, Dr. Colgan and his students, together with staff from the Greater Portland Council of Governments, looked at current energy use in southern Maine and explored ways to make the region more sustainable in its energy use.

Over the past year, Dr. Charles Colgan, professor of Public Policy and Management at the Muskie School, has been researching the question of how a small urban region like the greater Portland area consumes energy – and the most effective strategies for making that usage more sustainable over time.

The presentations sought to identify actions already underway in the region and present ideas from other places to stimulate discussion about future actions at both the local and regional level.

The event was held Monday, December 10 from 3-5 pm at Lee Hall at USM’s Wishcamper Center (34 Bedford Street, Portland., Discussion focus on the real choices we are likely to have as a region, along with the state and federal policy forces that shape these choices.

A full summary of this session will be posted soon.

Ten Southern Maine communities have volunteered to help us find out.

Each of these communities have designated a small, yet special, portion of their town to be a “learning laboratory,” a place where the Sustain Southern Maine team can learn what it might take to grow a specific location into a vibrant, prosperous center of activity.

We purposely included in this list a combination of urban, suburban and rural locations, giving us a wide range of opportunities to learn what could work.

Here’s where they are, north to south:

• New Gloucester: Upper Village
• Gray: Gray Village
• Standish: Steep Falls Village
• Westbrook: Prides Corner on Rte. 302
• Portland: India Street neighborhood
• South Portland: Mill Creek Shopping Center neighborhood
• Scarborough: Rte. 1 by Dunstan Crossing
• Kennebunk: West Kennebunk Village
• Wells: Transportation Center/Municipal Center
• Kittery: Foreside

What’s our plan for learning about these locations? Well, that depends on what we hear from the neighbors and property owners, who will be a hands-on part of this educational process.

But here’s what we do know. We know that market and housing studies indicate that smaller, more affordable and energy efficient homes located within walking distance of goods and services are increasingly in demand by young people – and by downsizing seniors. And because most of the housing built in Maine in the past several decades has consisted of large single-family homes on even larger lots, there are not a lot of small, affordable, walkable options around.

Hence, an opportunity.

Of course, this is all an evolutionary process, where any change will take place over the long term. And just by looking at the list of locations above, it’s clear that they will all present very different challenges and very different answers. But we expect to learn some interesting lessons on new ways to grow here in Maine, lessons that can be adopted by other communities as well, should they so decide.

So remember the names above. Ten or fifteen years from now, they may be appearing in a magazine near you, billed as the coolest new places to live and work in Maine.

by Carol Morris, Sustain Southern Maine Team Member 

November 2012

I would be mistaken.

At Sustain Southern Maine’s most recent Capacity Building session, Dana Totman, head of Avesta Housing, provided the audience with some startling facts:

• 86,000 households in Maine pay more than 50% of their income on housing.
• 16,315 households in Cumberland County pay more than 50% of income on rent.
• From 1998-2010, home prices went from 2.8 times yearly median income to almost 4 times yearly median income.
• 31% of all homeowners in Maine have a housing problem, either affordability or substandard housing.
• 47% of all renters in Maine have a housing problem, either affordability or substandard housing.

Clearly, there are lots of people who do own their homes – but barely. This is not a picture of people on assisted housing and welfare. These are people who have jobs, maybe children, and who simply do not make enough income to securely pay for their housing, whether they own or rent.

Talk to any Realtor and you will hear that the lowest priced homes move the fastest. And always have.

We know Maine – even Southern Maine – has a relatively low median income. We also know the least expensive housing is farthest away from job centers, adding high transportation costs to the family budget.

So what does this mean to you?

Maine has a serious and growing housing gap. Even now, our housing is the wrong size, location, and price for the needs of a large part of our population. And as boomers age and want smaller, more affordable housing, the disparity will be even bigger.  And since most of our housing is older and not very fuel-efficient, that means an added financial burden.

This problem resonates through our entire economy, affecting tenants and homeowners, every age group, commuters and businesses. With housing, fuel and transportation costs eating up the lion’s share of household budgets, there is not much left over to go into the rest of our economy, be it food, clothing or recreation.

What to do?

One of Sustain Southern Maine’s charges is to evaluate where the housing gaps are and work with our Partners on solutions.

Some solutions will be based on finding ways to build more affordable housing with private/public partnerships. This is complex, but there are innovative ideas out there. Changes in development requirements could be another partial solution. A whole other range of ideas will turn on making existing housing more fuel-efficient. Most of all, it’s clear that these solutions will need input and collaboration across all sectors and interests.

But another important solution lies with the public. The term “Affordable Housing” comes with a stigma. Any well-intentioned planning board that takes on this issue can guarantee local feedback from residents concerned about safety and property values. But the truth is that a significant proportion of our neighbors are hanging on by a thread and simply need smaller, lower-priced housing options. Freeport is doing a very good job of providing these, using a wide variety of methods.

And, just as an aside, people in their 20s and 30s who want to buy a home also desperately need these lower priced options, as they try to balance stagnant wages, school debt, health care, child care and day-to-day expenses with possible home ownership.

Lots of people are asking if home ownership remains a reasonable goal in our new economy. That is certainly worthy of discussion and analysis looking forward. But right now, pursuit of this “American Dream” is embedded in our national psyche  - as well as our tax code. And while the shape and size of our homes may change, the need for housing options that fit our budgets will not. We need to think ahead and act now.

By Carol Morris, Sustain Southern Maine Team Member

First, we were surprised – happily so – that almost three-quarters of the towns were willing and able to come out and meet with us in the final dog days of summer.

Second, we were intrigued by the responses of those who did attend. Our message was simple:

1. We are looking for locations in communities in Southern Maine that actively want to encourage growth and economic prosperity by attracting new residents, new businesses, and, perhaps, new infrastructure.
2. We want these locations to include places that are rural, suburban and urban.
3. The communities must want growth.
4. We have resources to help eight communities develop ideas and plans to help them attract the kind of growth that works for them.

Their response? First, more than half of those we talked to – 14 communities – said, yes, we definitely are interested in this concept. Another group said this sounds interesting…but we’d like to see what happens in the other towns first. We’ll sit this one out. And almost all of those who were NOT interested voiced the exact same reason: My town does not want to grow.

This prompted an interesting dialogue. The towns that didn’t want to grow were mostly small, rural communities with small governments and little infrastructure. And they like it that way. The towns that did want to grow typically have already seen significant growth in the last decades. Some have also seen firsthand what can happen when growth happens willy nilly.  Now, they want some say about where it goes – and even more, they want the opportunity to bring in some tax dollars to support it.

The end story? These two points of view mesh perfectly. While growth has certainly slowed in Southern Maine, even now it has not stopped. Looking ahead, we know it will continue to increase, especially in this part of the state – because this is where the jobs will be. So, if those towns that choose to welcome growth do a good job, it means that less of that new growth will spill over into those towns that would like to – as much as possible – stay the same.

It was a good conversation.

Our next steps? Winnow down those 14 communities to eight and roll up our sleeves to find out what kind of growth they could attract. Watch for regular updates.

By Carol Morris, Sustain Southern Maine Team Member

So, you may well ask, why did we run a survey asking folks what their ideal community would look like?

Partly because we find that in our business (public outreach, planning), there are a lot of assumptions made about what people DO want in their community. These assumptions usually reflect the opining individual’s own point of view. For example, if someone lives out in the country, they truly believe that everyone in Maine wants to live in a rural area. (It’s Maine, right? Why else would we live here?) If another someone lives in a more urban area and rides their bike a lot, they will become passionate about how it’s critically important to provide bike lanes and transit to reduce dependence on cars and foreign oil. (It’s 2012, right? This is the way of the future!)

You can see they both have a point.

But back to the survey. We wanted to find out if any of the options we provided for an “ideal community” really stood out – if there were any items that transcended age, gender and town of residence.  Now, given this is not a scientific survey with a randomly selected audience, and we can’t draw major conclusions. But regardless, we found the results interesting.

Number one item of importance in an ideal community: Good schools, with over 83% rating them highly important. This is not surprising, but it is good reinforcement for those who believe that support for local education is key to maintaining property values. And interestingly, only about a third of respondents thought it was highly important to be able to walk to these good schools.

Number two item of high importance, with a 74% rating: making sure locally owned businesses are part of the community.  So while a lot of people still go to those non-locally owned big box stores, they also are committed to patronizing stores owned by their neighbors.

And the other two big winners – no surprise here – are sidewalks at 67% and the availability of energy efficient homes at 62%.

Everything else – transit, bike lanes, housing choice – came in with 50% or fewer respondents rating it of high importance.

If we can draw any conclusion here, it’s that while lifestyles here in Southern Maine vary widely, any community that offers strong support for education and a convenient network of local businesses is going to be an attractive choice for a wide range of people. And that could play a big part in a sustainable future for Southern Maine.

We’ll plan to run this survey again early next year when we’ve attracted a bigger audience to Sustain Southern Maine to find out if the results change.

In the meantime, we hear you.

By Carol Morris, Sustain Southern Maine Team Member