Join Cheryl in speaking up for housing justice. During the weeks of 3/21 and 3/28, call your legislators and give them this message: "Please vote for bills that will help more Mainers have more access to safe, affordable homes, including LD 1673 and LD 2003." 

☎️ Click to call your Representative

☎️ Click to call your Senator

***This link will bring you directly to the House and Senate message line. Not sure who your legislators are? Look them up using this easy tool from NRCM. If you keep it brief, your message will be transcribed and delivered to your legislator's desk. (How cool is that?!) The voice recording on the other end will prompt you to leave your Representative or Senator's name, your name, your town, and your phone number. Tell them slowly and clearly you are asking them to support affordable housing bills, like LD 1673 and LD 2003. Lengthy messages are not transcribed so keep it brief!***

"Hi, my name is Cheryl Golek, and I live in Harpswell. I'm here today to continue advocating for housing justice.

As someone who has experienced the housing crisis in Maine over the years on many personal levels, I can tell you: this crisis has been coming for a long time, and if we’re going to tackle it, we need to include zoning reform and other approaches that will increase affordable housing for everyone living in Maine. 

Many years ago, I was an unhoused teen, then a single mother seeking quality, affordable housing for my children. Today, I’m a business owner and older-care advocate seeking staff who can afford to live where they work, and a landlord trying to provide quality and affordable housing in the increasingly-unaffordable mid-coast area.

Last summer and fall, I sat on Speaker Ryan Fecteau’s commission to look at how zoning changes could help us address the housing crisis in Maine. We came together from many viewpoints and regions to find common ground and push for bold solutions that match the urgency of the crisis before us. We made recommendations for the legislature to consider this year.

There are several bills before the legislature right now that can make a difference in the lives of Maine families, including two bills to address zoning; one to fund homelessness services; one to provide resources for workforce housing and another to increase the number of available housing vouchers. Those facing the housing crisis know that one bill or policy can’t solve the problem alone. We need to come at the problem from many angles. 

We hope these policies can address long standing discrimination in housing practices and provide affordable housing close to employment and services. Housing solutions must achieve equitable outcomes that address the history of segregated housing that hurts poor communities, our economy, and all of us. 

It isn't too late for the legislature to act boldly, and nothing is written in stone - our leaders can still make this happen this legislative session. No Maine family should have to face high rents, impossible odds on owning a home, eviction or homelessness.

Rental costs rose 24% in 2019, and housing costs have continued to grow. More than one in five renters in Maine now pay more than half their income to keep a roof over their head. Twenty-six thousand people in Maine are now on housing voucher waitlists. The time for bold action to address this crisis is not tomorrow, but right now.

Lack of affordable housing creates physical harm to people. The U.S. will spend $111 billion in avoidable health and education expenditures related to housing over the next ten years. We can address the lack of quality affordable housing today, or we can continue to kick the can down the road and spend it on adverse effects instead.

Lack of affordable housing harms our State's economy. You can't speak of the housing shortage without speaking of Maine's worker shortage as they are connected at the hip; you can't build one without the other.

We've seen daycare centers, nursing homes, and small businesses close because they can't find workers who can afford the rents where they are. We have witnessed fishing families have to move further and further away from their livelihoods because they can no longer afford the cost of living near the water.

The reality is that affordable housing is worker housing. Maine people of all walks of life need and deserve safe, affordable housing, and our economy needs safe, affordable housing to transform to meet the challenges of our time. Legislative efforts must continue to create a path towards integrated, quality, affordable housing.

Thank you all for being here today and using your voice!"