A Maine senator lays out why everyone should be a YIMBY: Building more housing could bring families extra income and help solve the labor shortage

Angus King attended a press conference at Pepperell Mill Campus in Biddeford where a solar panel project was announced Friday, July 27, 2018.

Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Getty Images

• Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent, told Insider the lack of affordable housing is "a national crisis."
• Maine is facing a severe shortage as it's welcomed a surge of new residents in recent years. 
• A self-described "YIMBY," King said the country needs to embrace density and creative building solutions.

Maine Sen. Angus King is very concerned about housing affordability. 

House prices and rents have surged in the last few years and Freddie Mac says the US is short almost four million homes. King's home state hasn't been spared. 

"This is a national crisis that's really impinging the rebuilding of the economy," he told Insider in the Capitol on Wednesday. 

When asked if he'd describe himself as a "YIMBY," or proponent of a "yes in my backyard" approach to housing which emphasizes building more homes to alleviate supply constraints, he quickly replied, "the answer is yes." 

King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said he supports increasing housing density in towns and cities to fight the shortage and improve affordability. The most common way to increase density is by "upzoning," or allowing the construction of multi-unit buildings or multiple homes in areas previously limited to single-family houses, commercial or office space, or parking. 

The senator pointed to Maine's new law — enacted last year — allowing the construction of "accessory dwelling units," which are secondary homes on plots with a just a primary unit. This allows families to, for example, build an extra unit on their lot for an aging relative or to rent out. The law also eliminated all single-family zoning, eliminates some regulatory restrictions on multi-unit homes, and incentivizes the construction of affordable housing.

The senator wants to see homeowners and developers take advantage of the loosened zoning restrictions to build a whole array of new, more dense, housing. 

"Most states' rural areas are full of great big houses with one or two people living in it," King said. "Let's develop one or two units, the people that own the house get some income. You don't have to build a new roof or new basement. So I think we have to think creatively. It can't be just building big apartment blocks." 

A house for sale in Maine.

Gordon Chibroski/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images

Maine's housing crunch has gotten a lot worse recently. A surge of new residents have moved into or bought second homes in the rural, coastal state over the last few years, in part due to the pandemic-induced rise in remote work. New Mainers, though welcomed in an aging state in need of more workers, have exacerbated the housing shortage.

As Maine's population grows, many businesses in the state are having a hard time finding and keeping employees who can afford to live there. 

"We've got companies in Maine that recruit people, they come and they can't find a place to live. This is true all over the country," King said.

A lack of affordable housing is central: the state housing authority reported last year that the average price of a house in nearly every county in Maine was unaffordable for the average household income. There are only 51 homes available for every 100 Maine residents with extremely low incomes, leaving a state-wide shortage of almost 20,000 homes, according to data compiled by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Housing costs have also increased nationwide as a result of skyrocketing construction costs, in part caused by supply chain slow downs and inflation.

King pointed to one possible solution: 3D-printed homes.

He pulled out his phone and showed this reporter pictures he'd posted on Instagram of a 3D-printed home — the first in the country to be made entirely of bio-based materials — made by the University of Maine last year. The home is climate friendly — it was made from wood flour, or sawmill remnants, and a binder made from corn — and researchers aim to print a home in just two days.

King was very jazzed by the house, which he visited on the University's campus in January, and says it embodies the kind of creative approach needed to address the crisis. 

"There's no simple solution, there's no silver bullet," King said, "but there's silver buckshot."

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