Maine’s gubernatorial candidates argued over the best way to improve housing affordability in the state during an October 13 debate, in response to soaring costs.
Over the past seven years, the median cost of a house in Maine has risen by 67 percent, while the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment increased by 52 percent from 2019 to 2025. The three gubernatorial candidates strongly differed on how they would bring costs down for prospective homebuyers and renters.
Republican nominee Bobby Charles had choice words for his Democratic opponent Hannah Pingree and current Democratic Governor Janet Mills on the issue. In the debate, he claimed, “I would just say, Mills/Pingree have killed the American Dream. Most Mainers cannot afford a median house. It’s a $30 billion problem, we’re 80,000 units down, Hannah has suggested 250 houses being built solves the problem with $100 million, I don’t agree.” Charles went on to say that he would cut costs by removing builder regulations, as well as speeding up permitting. He also partially tied the issue to immigration, saying that Maine should eventually not have any noncitizens in its public housing.
Independent candidate Rick Bennett also blamed the state’s Democratic government for the rise in housing costs, while claiming that partisan politics had prevented effective compromise on the issue. He pledged downpayment assistance to first-time homebuyers, talked about bringing back factory-built housing, and echoed Charles’s goal of speeding up approval for housing projects. Pingree, for her part, said that Maine had the greatest amount of affordable housing under production in its history, while also saying that the state needed to build 80,000 new housing units by 2030. She also proposed preventing private equity companies from buying affordable housing.
Maine voters have listed housing affordability as a top issue as the midterms approach. In response to a Maine Affordable Housing survey, approximately 80 percent of respondents said that the state’s housing costs had negative impacts on their ability to afford other essentials, including groceries.
Both Charles and Bennett have previously emphasized the need to act with more urgency on the issue, with Charles connecting it to a broader pro-growth approach. Bennett has summed up his critique of the state’s Democratic administration on the matter by saying, “Housing remains a crisis even after eight years of calling it a crisis. Crises should be dealt with faster.”
