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IamSauerKraut t1_j5afhgh wrote

Reply to comment by baxterstate in MaineHousing ready to spend $21 million to provide overnight shelters this winter by Shake-Spear4666

>you should be able to build 4-5 two family homes on an acre lot.

Absurd. Why do you want any town in ME to turn into Brooklyn dense?

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baxterstate t1_j5aiumb wrote

You don't have to zone the entire town that way, just a couple of acres in each town. The people who wait on you in restaurants, work in the big box stores, take care of your elderly, etc. can't afford to buy a single family on a big lot. Rents are also equally unaffordable.

Neither do will the kids of those who do. Most young people can't afford to buy a single family costing $328,000, (which is the median price of a 1 family in Maine). Most young people don't have the requisite 10% for a down payment or enough income to qualify for the payments.

We need to make it possible for builders to build more multifamily homes all over Maine to provide affordable first time homes for buyers and stable rents.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5aloan wrote

>We need to make it possible for builders to build more multifamily homes all over Maine to provide affordable first time homes for buyers and stable rents.

If builders are not building new housing then folks need to look at why that is the case. Hint: it is not because builders cannot turn a profit.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5atbe7 wrote

>You don't have to zone the entire town that way, just a couple of acres

That's called what, spot zoning? Prohibited. There is a reason it is called zoning.

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baxterstate t1_j5bvcid wrote

That's called what, spot zoning? Prohibited. There is a reason it is called zoning.

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You are mistaken. In every city and town different parts have different zoning. For example, only specific parts have commercial zoning. The zoning can be changed. Towns I lived in in MA sometimes would change the minimum allowable lot size.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5c3p72 wrote

>In every city and town different parts have different zoning

I'm fairly certain that in Maine there is case law wherein “spot zoning” is the singling out of one lot or a small area for different treatment under the zoning code even though the lot receiving different treatment is indistinguishable from surrounding parcels with respect to physical characteristics and potential uses.

As to MA, spot zoning is, as the link states, unlawful. If it was allowed to occur, it was only because no one challenged it. Judges rarely allow it for small, house-size properties. https://www.phillips-angley.com/blog/2021/05/spot-zoning-what-you-should-know/

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5alawd wrote

>$328,000, (which is the median price of a 1 family in Maine).

The median price swings by quite a bit amongst the websites. Neighborhoodscout uses ~$200,000. Zillow nearly $400,000.

I find the use of median to be misleading. But it does point to half of the prices being below that figure. Using average, imho, would provide a better - and truer - figure.

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baxterstate t1_j5aqmy8 wrote

I’m sure the lower prices for single family homes are in isolated, far away areas.

I’d like to see more housing built where there are jobs.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5at29f wrote

I know folks who worked at BIW who lived over by China Lake. They were resilient.

When I was in high school, my summer job was 14 miles distance but I had no way to get there except my bicycle. I did not spend my time whining about it. The next year I found a different job.

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P-Townie t1_j5bfjmk wrote

Ok Boomer. Times have changed.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5c8zlx wrote

>Times have changed.

Right.

Few complained as heartily as the keyboard whiners of today.

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[deleted] t1_j5bvth2 wrote

[deleted]

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baxterstate t1_j5c081s wrote

Yeah! Stick all the poor people in one place!

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Absolutely! Put people without cars near public transportation. What's wrong with that?

Go to Europe and you'll find that most people live in the cities, leaving a lot of land for farms.

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Guygan t1_j5agi29 wrote

Because people who work here need a place to live.

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Standsaboxer t1_j5gfyau wrote

The guy you are arguing with doesn’t even live in Maine. He left 30 some years ago (if he ever lived here at all) and shits all over the sub.

He makes crazy assertions and when he gets called out on his BS with evidence he acts like he can’t read.

Dude is straight up the post child of “from away.”

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5akl3i wrote

Whatever happened to being resilient? If conditions change, we change. If one town does not have what can be afforded, look elsewhere. Man has long desired for a better life. And for the better things in life. This whining about how others have what you do not have is... childish. Be better.

Or get a better job.

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BloobityBloobity t1_j5ap6uf wrote

Wages in Maine are also very depressed compared to most other states.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5aslrs wrote

Minimum wage in Maine is what, $13.80/hr? Hardly depressed when compared to other states - a large number of which remain at $7.25/hr. CT's, a much more expensive state, is only $14/hr.

So, you fail at the "very depressed" claim.

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_freeheeler_ t1_j5awhvf wrote

Maine median home price is 330k, CT is 337k. And before you say well that's because Portland, that's where you're gonna find any decent paying jobs, CT is going to have way more anyways. The jobs where I live in West Virginia pay same/more than similar positions in Maine and you can rent for well under a grand here and buy houses for 200k in the city. Maine is expensive for what you get.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5c2gf4 wrote

WVa is like the Gowanas Canal. Comparing Maine to that is ridic.

I do not doubt that housing prices in, around and south of Portland are higher than in most other parts of the state, but using median prices really says nothing. Does not even provide size of a house sold, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, acreage, town it in which properties are located, proximity to water bodies or major roads, nothing. Just a number where half the number of units sold is below that figure and and the other half higher.

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_freeheeler_ t1_j5c8ql0 wrote

Bangor 248k

Presque Isle 215k

They're up everywhere across Maine. Also, WV is comparable to Maine considering it's a rural state, with dying industries and an aging population. But even the Infrastructure in Morgantown is better than most of the state of Maine with bike paths, fiber internet, etc.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5cbysm wrote

Apples and oranges.

Morgantown is at the intersection of 2 major interstates and has a major university located in it. Nothing in Maine like it.

Coal is everywhere in WVa, same with shale gas. Pollution is everywhere. Large farms are cheap. Some state road corridors have more hookers than laborers, and the gas workers from TX, OK and WY are more than happy to utilize their services.

Maine is way different.

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BloobityBloobity t1_j5azc52 wrote

Not talking about minimum wage. I have ten years experience in my industry and my salary was 75% of where I used to live. Same with my wife, who has her master's degree. Our combined income barely netted us a house in southern Maine.

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IamSauerKraut t1_j5c8o7r wrote

>Our
>
>combined
>
> income barely netted us a house in southern Maine.

Well then. According to most folks in these threads, you are doing very well. Might even be wealthy and in need of having your single family lot turned into high-density housing.

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Trilliam_West t1_j5aq632 wrote

Oh noes, people that aren't rich and white might be able to move here.

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