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Housing Issues Linked to Maine Casino

AUGUSTA, Maine – As reported by the Associated Press: "Even before a ballot is cast for a proposed Indian casino, some Mainers have applied for subsidized housing in Sanford, hoping to beat the rush and stake out a place to live if a casino job is in the cards.

"But those optimistic Mainers may find little available living space -- subsidized or not -- if the casino-resort is approved Nov. 4 and becomes reality, state and local officials familiar with housing in southern Maine say.

"In Sanford, the likely location for the gambling complex, some apartment owners will likely drop out of subsidized housing so they can charge bigger rents, said Bill Keefer, executive director of Sanford's housing authority.

"…A housing crisis isn't limited to that York County town of just less than 21,000. Southern Maine's scarcity of available rents and affordable housing is well-known and well-documented. The region's housing market faces a crisis and adding 4,700 casino workers would only make it worse, says a memorandum prepared by the Baldacci administration, which opposes the casino.

"…Those who want the $650 million casino built are not convinced a housing problem lies ahead.

"Erin Lehane of the pro-casino campaign Think About It said the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes who want to build the casino expect to hire from pools of unemployed and underemployed people who already live in the area.

"Lehane said the tribes see jobless people in the Lewiston-Auburn area as potential employees and are committed to running buses to that area to bring them to work…"

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