Issues

Problem Statement:

• Housing in Maine has become unaffordable for many. A large increase in demand and a shortage in supply was caused by many factors, including Out-of-State Buyers moving to Maine during Covid; a drastic increase in vacation homes, including short-term rentals; record low interest rates; and a myriad of land development issues. In addition to record-high housing prices, property taxes have increased significantly since Covid due to higher municipality spending. Finally, property insurance rates have had double-digit increases over the past few years; leading many consumers to either reduce or go without insurance altogether.

Supporting Facts:

• Maine needs an additional 80,000 housing units by 2030 (Source)
• Short-Term Rentals in Maine (Source)
  • In 2022, approximately 18,032 “Whole Homes” were used as short-term rentals in Maine. These houses could be repurposed as full-time housing for Maine families.
    • Of the 18,032 “Whole Homes” Short-Term Rentals, 61% of these units were rented for less than 90 days in 2022; while they remained vacant the rest of the year.
  • In 2019, 1 in 5 homes in Maine were registered as a “Vacation Home” (Source)
• The percentage of the population in Maine over 65 years old is 23%, while the median age is 44.8 years old. (Source)
• The average house in Maine costs over $400,000 (Source) to purchase or $1,750 monthly to rent for a 1 1-bedroom unit (Source).
• Homelessness Statistics in Maine (Source)
  • 55% of all households who experienced homelessness in Maine have at least one child
  • 64% of Maine homeless are Adults over 24 years old
  • 29% of Maine homeless are children under 18 years old
  • 7% of Maine homeless are Young Adults 18-24 years old
  • 6.5% of Maine homeless are Veterans
• Homelessness in Maine has nearly tripled since 2020 (Source)
• Homestead Exemption Requirements (Source)
  • To qualify, you must be a permanent resident of Maine
  • The home must be your permanent residence
  • You must have owned a home in Maine for twelve months before applying
• Property Insurance
  • The Maine Bureau of Insurance says the average Maine homeowner has seen double-digit rate increases in each of the last two years; that’s a 23 percent rate hike on average (Source)
  • Maine insurance rates follow national and local trends and claim experience. Home and auto rates continue to rise as insurers and customers struggle with rising costs. Portland, Maine, area insurance buyers saw more than a 15% price increase in 2023. Industry experts expect this to continue in 2024. (Source)
  • The proliferation of court cases seeking large monetary awards from insurance carriers is becoming an increasingly heavy burden for the Property and Casualty insurance industry. Third-party litigation funding of cases has become a significant issue for insurance carriers. (Source)
  • Third-party Litigation Funding is a side financial deal in which a third party, who has no claim in the legal dispute, provides funding to support the plaintiff’s legal claim. In return, the third-party funder receives a significant portion of the proceeds if the case is successful. It transfers the financial risk of a lawsuit from the plaintiff to an investor. (Source)
  • 3rd Party Litigation harms policyholders because of the resulting financial pressure it puts on carriers to increase premiums. (Source)

Proposed Solutions:

• Increase Veteran Housing Services close to Veteran Affairs (VA) locations
  • We need to take care of our Veterans and get those who are homeless and housing insecure into a better situation with proximity to health care and support services.
  • We should prioritize getting every Homeless Veteran off the streets as soon as possible; they served us, and now it is time for us to serve them.

• Increase Senior 55+ Community Development across the State
  • This will ensure our older generations have:
    • Reduced housing costs
    • Safer living spaces
    • Better accessibility in their new home
    • Convenient Locations for support services
  • As a result:
    • A significant amount of housing will be available for younger families
    • Aging towns will be revitalized with younger working generations which will lead to economic growth
    • Investments in Public School systems should be strengthened with increased State revenue as attendance increases

• Property Insurance
  • Ban third-party lenders from influencing or investing in Maine property litigation cases.
  • As a result:
    • Housing and car insurance rates will decrease due to lower litigation costs
    • More insurance companies will offer products in the State increasing competition, additionally lowering costs.

• Short-term housing properties should be assessed and taxed as commercial properties – just like hotels.
  • Higher property values on short-term rentals will increase property taxes for these units Statewide.
  • If your long-term rental is occupied by a single-family occupant greater than 270 days a year, you should be assessed as residential & qualify for the Homestead Exemption.
  • As a result:
    • A portion of the less successful short-term rentals will be sold or converted to long-term housing for Maine permanent residents.
    • Owners of the remaining short-term rental properties will pay a higher property tax.
    • Additional Tax Revenue generated from short-term rental property prices should be used to increase the value of the Maine Homestead Exemption. This will lower property tax for Maine families.

Summary of my positions: 

Maine housing prices have reached the point where deciding to live and build your life here is becoming unattainable. This leads to a “brain drain” in the State where our College & Technical School Graduates leave the State for higher wages and a lower cost of living. Additionally, we are seeing a significant increase in homelessness and housing insecurity, where many Maine families are having to make hard choices to keep a roof over their children’s heads. 

By exponentially increasing the development of low-cost housing communities for our 55+ residents; we will drastically increase the pool of available homes for younger families to build their lives here in Maine. This will lead to significant economic growth; by bringing in working-age folks to towns throughout Maine; income and consumption tax revenues will increase as a result for the State, which could be, in turn, used to lower overall taxes for Maine residents.

Like many, my family enjoys short-term rentals on our vacations, but the unfortunate reality is that Maine has too many vacation houses that sit empty nearly year-round while our younger folks and families struggle to find housing either for rent or sale within their budget.  We need a means of pressuring these underutilized short-term rentals into either converting to a long-term rental or selling altogether so a Maine family will have a place to call home.

Finally, property insurance. Like many, I bundle my home and auto insurance policies together to save money. As you might have noticed, our insurance rates have increased drastically in the last few years, significantly outpacing inflation. Part of this problem is due to Third Party Litigation Funding. As described above, if you get into an accident; a third party may try to convince you to file a lawsuit and, if successful, take a significant portion of your trial winnings. This practice has grown increasingly aggressive over the past few years; exploding insurance costs, which then get passed on to you – the consumer. In other States, efforts are underway to limit or ban these 3rd party litigators to stem insurance costs for consumers. I think Maine should have this discussion as well.

I will be the first to admit that these solutions are not perfect, but let’s at least have these conversations. Housing costs will only worsen over time if we do nothing about it. If you have feedback or other ideas for potential solutions to Maine’s Housing problem, please email them to me so we can discuss them at [email protected].

Let’s Move Forward Together,

Phillip

Visual Data:

• I do not support tariffs on Canada or Mexico.
  • Reason #1 – Last year, Maine brought in $4.4 billion in Imports from Canada (Source)
    • Maine families already struggle to put food on the table and keep a roof over our heads. Adding unnecessary tariffs on goods and commodities will only make matters worse.
  • Reason #2 – Tariffs will significantly impact (Source):
    • Exports – $1.5 billion in exports of many products from the state’s heritage industries, including blueberries, lobsters, and forest products
    • Imports – Maine relies on its northern neighbor for about $5 billion of imports, including heating oil, natural gas, and electricity. Maine homes depend heavily on oil, and over 80% of the state’s heating fuel and gasoline are imported from Canada. 

• I believe the root cause of why politics in this country is so divided and weaponized is big money in politics, from both sides of the aisle, driven primarily by Political Action Committees.
  • In the 2024 election, about $5.6 billion was spent by PACs alone. (Source)
• As a result, some politicians can go decades without talking to their constituents, as the bulk of their funding does not come from the people they represent.
  • For example, Susan Collins has not held a ‘Town Hall’ event in over 20 years (Source)
  • I encourage you to review Senator Collins’s 2020 Campaign Finance FEC Filings (Source) and make your own conclusions.
• As your Senator, I would fight to get big money out of politics. Your representatives should represent you and not their lobbyists.

• I strongly support women’s healthcare rights
  • Including access to:
    • Birth control
    • Reproductive health services
    • Adequate maternity leave and postpartum support
  • What decisions are made between you and your doctor is your business and no one else’s.
• We need to expediently codify Roe v. Wade on the federal level to undo the damage to women’s rights caused by the United States Supreme Court’s ruling on Dobbs before Maine state laws that protect women’s rights are infringed upon.
  • Just recently, H.P. 635 was introduced in the Maine State Legislature to repeal laws allowing abortion and to criminalize it. (Source)
• In 2023, the Reproductive Freedom For All Act was co-sponsored by Susan Collins to save face with her constituents after she enabled the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2018; however, she has not pushed it forward in the Senate.  (Source)

• I fully support your Second Amendment right to bear arms, but we must act on the mental health crisis in this country to balance this right. 
  • There are over 500 million firearms in America, with a large portion of them being semi-automatic (Source)
  • A ‘Firearm Ban’ is not realistically possible, and talk of one only divides America further.
• I support Maine’s Yellow Flag Law, crafted by Governor Janet Mills and the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and passed in 2020. 
  • This law gives authorities a mechanism to temporarily confiscate firearms from someone who is determined to be a danger to themselves or others.
  • It must be approved by law enforcement and mental health professionals and certified by a judge, which provides ample checks and balances.
• I support legislation that improves access to mental health resources, regardless of health insurance.
• I support stronger legislation that holds adults accountable for unauthorized access to their firearms by underage children. 

• I support pausing new immigration to Maine until we can adequately house and care for our people.
• We need to support folks who have left their home country and are already in Maine with legal status; their success is now our success.
  • They typically work critical jobs, pay taxes, and are now essential to our communities.
• I support legislation that overhauls the H1-B visa program. 
  • Corporate America is abusing this system to obtain cheap labor to fill positions that Americans could quickly fill.
  • Only expert and/or highly qualified individuals should be accepted.
  • I believe the governor of the state where each individual would reside should sign off on each visa, adding a check to ensure one of their constituents could not fulfill the position first.

• I support your decision to join a labor union if you believe it is the right choice for you and your family. If you do not, that is okay, too. 
• I recommend you talk to your family, neighbors, and co-workers to understand their perspectives on joining a labor union so you can make an informed decision for your family. 
• Personally, I work in factories all around the state of Maine, and I have seen both union and non-union factories working effectively.

• I support the LGBT community.
• LGBT folks are our friends, family, and neighbors; they are Mainers and Americans. We need to treat them as such and no less. 
• Who you love, who you are, and what makes you happy in life is your business and no one else’s.
• As a father, I think an update to the Maine Human Rights Act is needed to exclude sports from being covered by this law regarding gender identity. This law was made with the best intentions to keep our schools safe and inclusive; however, I believe it creates unfair advantages in some circumstances. I look forward to learning more about this issue, and I hope a simple compromise can be made that is inclusive and fair for all parties involved. 
  • I want to highlight how sickening I find the politics revolving around this topic. OUR CHILDREN SHOULD NOT BE POLITICISED
  • Let’s get this right for all of our children and move forward.

• I support and believe in science, including vaccines.
• I support legislation that increases access to information about ingredients used in vaccines, access to testing data conducted with vaccines, and any other information that folks want to increase their trust in vaccines. 
  

• I support and believe in science, including the fact that Maine’s climate is warming, that Maine is experiencing more frequent and more powerful storms, and that the temperature of the Gulf of Maine is warming at a faster rate than most ocean surfaces on the planet (Source).
• I support actionable, balanced plans to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere, produce energy from renewable sources, and protect our natural resources and people from the effects of climate change.
• I strongly support household and community solar energy systems that can be stored using various methods, including batteries, thermal energy, and gravity (via abandoned mines).
  • I do not support converting forests and agricultural fields to solar farms.
  • I do not support additional wind farms, onshore or offshore, due to their initial carbon footprint, natural impact, and associated maintenance. 
  • Medium to longterm, I foresee micro-nuclear reactors as the final solution for green energy production. (Source)