AUGUSTA, Maine — A new state housing commission tasked with addressing the growing need to create affordable housing in Maine faces an enormous challenge in a short window of time.

The Blue Ribbon Commission on Affordable Housing, created out of legislation that passed in the spring, met for the first time Wednesday to define the problem and to begin finding ways to address it.

It didn’t take long for the 17 commission members to realize how broad and interwoven Maine’s affordable housing crisis has become.

“I think we still need to get our arms around the issue of affordable housing and then prioritize what we do to help fix it,” said Sen. Thomas Martin, R-Benton, the commission’s co-chairman. “We’ll need to find areas where we can get the most bang for our buck.”

The commission’s goal is to present a report with recommendations to the Legislature’s Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee by the beginning of next year and then use those recommendations to draft legislation.

At the close of Tuesday’s meeting, the housing commission planned to meet just three more times — once in November and twice in December — before settling on its priorities and drafting its report.

Reprinted with permission from the Bangor Daily News.