OnTheIssuesLogo

Rick Bennett on Welfare & Poverty

 

 


Use state guarantee on down payments for new homebuyers

Q: Many Maine businesses say they can't find workers because workers can't find housing. The median price of a house in Maine is $425,000.

PINGREE: My housing plan calls to invest $100 million by year in programs that we know work -- affordable homeownership, but also the kinds of infrastructure that it takes for private developers and communities to connect new homes.

BENNETT: Reduce down payments for first-time homebuyers using a state guarantee. It works by using the state's very healthy cash balance as a guarantee, second position behind the banks. A $400,000 house, first-time homebuyer, 20% down, has to come up with $80,000. That is out of reach for much of Maine, families particularly starting out in life if we could reduce that to $20,000, it would have a chance of getting that down payment set.

CHARLES: The only way you get the housing stock of is to methodically encourage builders. You got to drop all the regs. You need to incentivize investment.

Source: C-SPAN transcript on 2026 Maine Gubernatorial race , Oct 1, 2026

Other governors on Welfare & Poverty: Rick Bennett on other issues:
ME Gubernatorial:
Angus King
Ed Crockett
Hannah Pingree
Janet Mills
Paul LePage
Robert Charles
Shenna Bellows
Troy Jackson
ME Senatorial:
Angus King
David Costello
Demi Kouzounas
Graham Platner
Janet Mills
Susan Collins
Troy Jackson

Abortion
Budget/Economy
Civil Rights
Corporations
Crime
Drugs
Education
Energy/Oil
Environment
Families/Children
Foreign Policy
Free Trade
Govt. Reform
Gun Control
Health Care
Homeland Security
Immigration
Infrastructure/Technology
Jobs
Local Issues
Principles/Values
Social Security
Tax Reform
War/Iraq/Mideast
Welfare/Poverty

[Title9]





Page last updated: Oct 11, 2026; copyright 1999-2022 Jesse Gordon and OnTheIssues.org