Bangor has a shortage of 700 housing units for people earning less than $35,000 annually, forcing renters to pay more than their incomes can afford.
This was one of many pieces of data outlined in the final report of the Bangor Housing Study, completed by HR&A Advisors. The Bangor City Council’s Business and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday reviewed and approved the final report on the housing study, which will next go before the full City Council to be approved in a formal meeting.
The 36-page report affirms what city leaders have long believed, namely that rising rent and home prices are a detriment to Bangor’s residents, especially low-income and working-age adults. The results also suggest that increasing the amount and affordability of housing will improve the city’s overall health.
Bangor city councilors in January 2024 signed a $75,000 contract with the company to determine how much housing the city has, what is needed, and to give recommendations to fill the gaps.
The study found median housing price sales in Bangor skyrocketed from $174,000 to $273,000 from 2012 to 2022, while average monthly rental fees jumped from $820 to $930.
In the same timeframe, the number of Bangor residents fell by four percent while the statewide population grew by three percent.
Specifically, the city lost nearly 2,000 working age adults and more than 2,000 households earning less than $75,000, which the report said could be due to the lack of appropriate housing for them.
Anne Krieg, Bangor’s economic development director, said the study revealed a glaring need for more housing for the city’s low to middle income populations.
“I think it’s telling that we have already made major changes to our development practice, which is good, but we should continue to be looking for more ways to support housing development,” Kreig said.
The study also found that 2022 was the first year Bangor’s median income outpaced average home prices, and that nearly no one younger than 35 owned a home in Bangor that year.
While the number of housing units and jobs in Bangor grew from 2012 to 2022, the city still lags behind statewide averages for both.
For example, Bangor’s housing supply increased 0.2 percent compared with the statewide average of 3 percent. Bangor’s jobs also saw a three percent uptick in the last decade, compared with seven percent job growth across the state.
The report also suggests that the housing that is available in Bangor may not be suitable for the city’s residents.
Forty percent of the households in Bangor are people who live alone, but studio or one-bedroom units account for only a quarter of homes in the city. Most housing in Bangor has two or three bedrooms, which could be out of residents’ price ranges and larger than what they need.
Roughly half of all renters in Bangor are housing cost burdened, the study found. This is especially true for senior renters, 56 percent of which reported being housing cost burdened.
Meanwhile, single-family homes are selling less frequently now, the report found, likely because there aren’t many places to move to.
The study also acknowledged that these housing issues aren’t unique to Bangor. Instead, they mirror a statewide and nationwide housing crunch driven by rising costs and limited housing options. Additionally, developers are fighting high construction costs, which makes building new homes to add to a community’s housing stock challenging.
However, the city has made several policy changes in recent years to spur more development and help struggling residents, such as adopting a tenants’ housing rights ordinance, which regulates certain landlord practices and fees.
The city also allowed different types of housing, like tiny homes, to be built, and a Bangor landlord soon developed a park of 30 tiny homes on Hammond Street. Nearly 100 people applied to live in the community in the week after it was completed in Nov. 2024.
Despite this progress, the study notes more changes must be made in order to create the type of housing the community needs, namely smaller and more affordable units.
HR&A Advisors recommends the city “reduce market barriers to housing development, and dedicate public funding to subsidize the development of homes affordable to low- and moderate-income households.”
