More inspectors. More enforcement. More court time. More demolitions. Lewiston is cracking down on unsafe housing like never before, angering some landlords and pleasing others. LEWISTON — Rick Lockwood, a Lewiston landlord who at one time controlled more than 10 buildings in the downtown, wants out of the city. He believes he’s being targeted by […]
housing
Posted inPerspective, sj-web
Housing stipend for Congress? Here's a better way
Does anyone pity the poor congressman? He spends much of his life on the road, eating rubber chicken or repugnant local specialties, in between making a few speeches and shaking a whole lot of hands. And when he comes off the road, he generally does not go home to whatever fair district where he once […]
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Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Lewiston affordable housing opens
LEWISTON — Just about four years ago, Craig Saddlemire was one of dozens of people looking on in horror as a series of fires destroyed five buildings between Pierce and Bartlett streets. At a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for the revamped Pierce Place complex, which features 29 new units of affordable housing along with 33 renovated […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Getting the lead out, poison prevention efforts expanding
LEWISTON — Shilo Mathieu is on the front lines in America’s decades-long struggle to protect children from lead poisoning. And what she’s been seeing recently in this city known for its lead paint problem is both heartening and foreboding. Mathieu is a family nurse practitioner at Lewiston’s downtown B Street Clinic, which serves the city’s […]
Posted inLivermore Falls Advertiser, Maine
Legislative committee says yes to Section 8 guns
AUGUSTA — The Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on Thursday voted 7-6 in favor of a bill that would allow tenants who live in public housing or who receive a federal Section 8 housing voucher to keep guns in their apartments. The final vote came two days after the panel split 4-4 Tuesday on […]
Posted inMaine
Bill to allow guns in Section 8 properties hits stalemate
AUGUSTA — Lawmakers on Tuesday continued their debate over the best way to balance the rights of landlords with those of tenants who are receiving public housing subsidies and want to keep firearms. A new proposal offered by Sen. Andre Cushing, R-Hampden, would allow landlords who own and live in multiunit properties with four apartments […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Paul LePage, MSHA to discuss housing bonds
AUGUSTA — Maine Gov. Paul LePage will meet with Maine State Housing Authority officials about the fate of bonds for senior housing projects. Voters signed off on the $15 million in November. Maine State Housing Authority board chairman Peter Anastos sent a letter to LePage on Feb. 16 asking if the Republican governor intends to […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Lewiston officials decline to call Joe Dunne a slumlord
LEWISTON — The call for Lewiston’s Fire Department on Wednesday morning should have been relatively routine. A furnace was malfunctioning at 37 Jefferson St. and emitting fumes and smoke into the building, according to the call from a resident. There was no fire when firefighters arrived minutes later and as they do in most of […]
Posted inMaine
Bill could launch housing program for homeless vets
AUGUSTA – A Lewiston lawmaker is leading the charge to bring as many as 21 cabins for homeless veterans to the grounds of the Veterans Affairs Administration’s medical campus at Togus. State Rep. Jared Golden, D-Lewiston, is asking the Legislature to approve a $1 million appropriation to kick-start a Volunteers of America Cabin in the Woods […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
Housing grants to help Lewiston clean more than lead
LEWISTON — A renewed set of federal grants could do a lot more than help reduce lead in downtown housing units, city officials said Tuesday. “We’ll be doing lead, we’ll be doing weatherization, we may be providing some block grant rehabilitation loan so that the entire house, the entire property, is looked at as a […]