Bangor took the first step to build a registry of its rental units more than five years after it was recommended as a way to improve the quality and quantity of the city’s housing stock.
The city council’s Business and Economic Development Committee on Monday approved a plan for a two-year pilot project to compile a list of rental units based on information from landlords. That information, including the size and quality of properties, will help the city understand what housing is available and what the community needs.
The registry will also show the city ways to improve its existing rental housing. For instance, the list could reveal that some neighborhoods have more vacant or deteriorating buildings and need to be invested in.
If approved by the full city council later this month, the project would launch on July 1, one year after the Bangor Daily News reported that the city had failed to create a rental registry for years after a housing work group recommended it in March 2019. Meanwhile, the housing crisis in Maine worsened, making safe and affordable housing more expensive or altogether out of reach for some.
The pilot registry also aligns with the council’s goal of making 2024 “the year of housing,” which the city declared in January. The body vowed to prioritize creating more units and improving Bangor’s existing housing stock to ensure all residents have somewhere safe and affordable to live.
Focusing on rental units is especially important, as nearly half of Bangor’s roughly 31,000 residents rent, according to the city.
The initiative will operate on a voluntary basis, meaning landlords can choose to give the city information about their housing units and any issues they currently face.
In the application to participate, landlords will need to sign a form stating their properties meet health and safety standards for housing.
The city will also provide landlords with a checklist of building maintenance standards their buildings must meet. The list ranges from safety requirements, such as working smoke detectors, to light and ventilation needs, like each unit having at least one window that opens to the outdoors.
A formal inspection is not required at this point, but owners can ask city staff to walk through their building with them to identify potential issues.
As part of the registry, the city will look for ways to help participating landlords with challenges they face, including higher operating costs and ongoing maintenance and repairs needed to keep units safe for tenants.
This assistance could be the city offering low-cost loans for housing improvements, such as installing heat pumps or weatherizing a building to cut seasonal energy costs.
City staff designed the program after gathering feedback from local landlords, property managers, tenants and real estate professionals over the last six months. Each party outlined their concerns regarding communication, regulatory barriers, resources, and services attached to the program.
The program is set to end on June 30, 2026, around the same time that the city’s first citywide property revaluation in 37 years wraps up. City staff will give the city council’s Business and Economic Development Committee progress reports on the pilot every six months.
The rental registry plan will go to the full city council for formal approval later this month before staff launch the program.
