Portland, ME — With Maine families being priced out of their communities, employers struggling to attract workers, and too many people unable to find an affordable place to live, gubernatorial candidate Angus King III today unveiled the Charlie Plan—an ambitious housing strategy to declare a housing emergency, build 10,000 homes per year by the end of his first term, and bring down costs.
Named in honor of King’s grandfather, Charlie Hazard—who fought in World War II and later worked for Maine State Housing—the Charlie Plan is rooted in urgency, practicality, and a belief that Maine can move faster to meet this moment.
“Maine’s housing crisis is an emergency, and it’s time we started treating it like one,” King said. “If FEMA can build housing quickly when disaster strikes, we should be able to build housing quickly for Maine families who need a place to live. I’ve built housing for thousands of people and know we can do this—but only if we get serious, move faster, and stop getting in our own way.”
This is a crisis, but it is also an opportunity. Maine can choose to move faster, think smarter, and build a housing system that works again for working families, older Mainers, young people, and communities across our state.
It’s time for big ideas and real results.
THE CHARLIE PLAN PILLARS:
- A Statewide Commitment
- A Commitment to Build: Build 10,000 homes per year by end of first-term – with the data to prove it – across all income levels, which will lower housing costs and property taxes for all Mainers.
- Mainers Make Do: We have some of the oldest housing stock in the country, and with a shortage of new homes or nursing homes, we need to support weatherization and renovation to lower costs and help aging in place, improving quality of life for Mainers
- Housing First: Prevent chronic homelessness through getting people into housing quickly, then assessing and addressing needs. Shelters are 2X, jails are 4X, hospitals are 29X.
- Support for Towns
- Local Control: Towns keep agency over how and where to build new housing, with incentives for growth; support them with state resources to help them navigate how to simplify permitting, codes and zoning, eliminating unnecessary delays while preserving standards and quality of life.
- Carrots not Sticks: Support targeting of revolving infrastructure loan funds along with technical support, using the state’s borrowing power to help towns that want to invest in housing – to reward towns that are developing housing – as well as to support re-use of existing buildings. We’ll also encourage productive use of state and town-owned land to help solve this challenge.
- Lowering Barriers and Costs
- Lower Cost through Urgency and Speed: Improve process so it isn’t more expensive to build affordable housing than it is to build market rate housing. Our state agencies aren’t aligned today and so projects get hung up in any number of places. A common goal with a real target and accountability will get the state focused on getting to yes rather than getting mired in process.
- Get Out of Our Own Way: Let’s cut outdated red tape, and find more ways to get to yes on housing. Top to bottom review of building codes and zoning laws – Maine ranks among the worst in the nation for complexity in a time when we need common sense. There are innovations and improvements being used across the country and around the world that we should deploy here, and quickly. (Single staircase example, or elevators, or SROs)
- Raising Our Game
- Be Smart: Incentivize “smart” growth, greater density and walkable housing, in line with climate, anti-sprawl and transportation goals. We should abandon the plank of our party platform that suggests building on the “outskirts” of towns.
- Innovate: Other states have committed to support modular, manufactured housing, but we keep making it harder. We should also help enable 3D printed homes (up to 30% cheaper), and support innovations on materials like TimberHP, design like KBS, and finance like Northern Forest Center’s* housing efforts.
- Strong Maine, Stronger Workforce: Greatly enhance training for middle and high school kids – too many critical jobs are unfilled today – engage schools, build on the work that the Associated General Contractors, Jobs for Maine’s Graduates and others are doing to prepare kids and help fill our pipeline of good-paying careers in the trades. See my Back to Being the Best plan for education reform here in Maine, and the importance of training exposure early on for kids.
###
POLICY PLAN
Housing costs are too high, supply is too low, and too many Maine families are being priced out of the communities they love.
This is one of the biggest challenges facing our state, and it touches everything: family budgets, workforce shortages, local economies, new businesses, homelessness, and whether young people can build a life in Maine.
We need to treat it like the emergency it is, and as someone who has built housing for thousands of people in my career, I’m ready to start treating it like one.
That’s why, as governor, I will declare a housing emergency and launch the Charlie Plan, named for my grandfather Charlie Hazard, who fought in World War II and spent much of his career at Maine State Housing. He believed deeply in service and in helping make Maine a place where working families could succeed. This plan is in that spirit: practical, urgent, and focused on results.
The goal is clear: by the end of my first term, Maine will be building 10,000 homes per year across all income levels, and finding a home in Maine will get a little easier.
That means more starter homes, more rental housing, more workforce housing, and more homes for seniors and families. It means using every tool we have to lower costs, increase supply, and get projects moving faster.
But solving this crisis does not mean taking control away from communities. Towns should continue to decide how and where housing gets built. The role of the state should be to help local leaders succeed by providing technical support, model zoning, and practical tools that make it easier to approve and build housing that fits each community.
We also need to reward towns that want to lead. That is why I will support more targeting of revolving infrastructure loan funds and grants, with more technical help, to help communities invest in the sewer and water needed to support housing.
One reason housing costs are so high is that we have made it too hard to build. Affordable housing should not cost more or take longer to build than market-rate housing. We need more urgency, more speed, and a process that works.
That starts with a top-to-bottom review of building codes and zoning laws. Maine has become one of the most complex states in the country for housing rules, at exactly the wrong moment. Whether it is outdated rules around single staircases, SROs, or other barriers that no longer reflect common sense, we need to get out of our own way.
At the same time, we need to be smart about where and how we build. Maine should support walkable housing, downtown development, reuse of existing buildings, and growth that aligns with climate, anti-sprawl, and transportation goals. We should strengthen communities, not hollow them out by pushing development farther and farther to the outskirts.
We also need to innovate. Modular, manufactured, and 3D-printed housing can cut costs significantly and help us build more quickly. Maine State Housing should be a partner in bringing those innovations to scale, while supporting better approaches in design, materials, and financing. I sure wish the legislature had managed to solve the inspection snag for multifamily construction too – we’ll get to it next year for sure.
And as we build more, we should also preserve what we already have. Weatherization and renovation can lower costs, improve comfort, help older Mainers age in place, and keep more homes in the housing stock.
Finally, none of this happens without workers. We need to rebuild the construction and housing workforce by greatly expanding training opportunities for middle school and high school students and strengthening pathways into the trades. Too many critical jobs are going unfilled, and we will not solve the housing crisis unless we solve that problem too.
And for those facing chronic homelessness, we need to focus on what works. Housing first is more humane, more effective, and far less expensive than cycling people through shelters, jails, and hospitals. The answer is to get people housed quickly, then address the challenges they are facing with stability and dignity.
This is a crisis, but it is also an opportunity. Maine can choose to move faster, think smarter, and build a housing system that works again for working families, older Mainers, young people, and communities across our state.
It’s time for big ideas and real results.