Homelessness and housing are at the top of a list of the Bangor City Council’s priorities in 2026.
The issue is front of mind for many councilors and residents following a homeless encampment closure near the Penobscot River in December and as an affordable housing shortage complicates efforts to find people long-term housing.
City officials shared three top council priorities, all related to the city’s homelessness crisis, for the upcoming year with state legislators in a special meeting Monday.
These three items — currently tentative priorities until the council finalizes and votes at a later meeting — were the most popular proposals named in a December meeting where councilors threw out ideas for the coming year and voted on ones they wanted to focus on.
Comprehensive homelessness strategy
Councilors have discussed a wide range of potential strategies for addressing homelessness, an issue that has plagued the city for years, in meetings and on the campaign trail. Some of those include forming a committee of experts, establishing a sanctioned outdoor encampment space and increasing capacity for the city’s homeless shelters.
“I think there was pretty universal agreement that we need to do something a lot more thoughtful in relation to homelessness within the city,” City Manager Carollynn Lear said Monday to summarize recent council discussions, which were particularly urgent amid last month’s encampment closure.
The council is set to discuss next steps regarding homelessness and a potential advisory committee in a special workshop meeting Tuesday at 5:15 p.m.
Housing
Building more housing has been a key priority for the city in the last few years, and this year is no different. The council named 2024 the “year of housing” and 2025 the “year of building.”
Councilors seem interested in continuing these efforts as there still isn’t enough housing in the city.
“I feel that in the year of housing we fell short,” City Councilor Susan Deane said in last month’s brainstorming session.
A study released in February 2025 found that rising rent and home prices were hurting Bangor residents and that the city was short 700 units of housing for people earning less than $35,000 per year. Housing developers in the state have named high construction and labor costs as key barriers hindering housing production.
Councilors have discussed establishing a standing housing committee, easing regulations to make development easier and using housing bonds as potential ways to address unmet housing needs in the city.
“I think there’s a lot being done, but because the need is so great relative to affordable housing, it will continue to undoubtedly be a priority,” Lear said Monday.
Regional cost-sharing and collaboration
Councilors have often said they want surrounding municipalities to contribute more to Bangor’s work as a service center, so the city and its organizations aren’t alone in shouldering the cost of providing services that benefit the broader region.
“I think that includes collaborating on the solutions, but also collaborating on the costs associated with those solutions,” Lear said Monday.
“Money would be good,” City Councilor Carolyn Fish said in the December session, “but services or some type of action” on the part of nearby towns would also be welcome.
Lear cautioned that implementing a strategy for working together and sharing costs with other towns would take time, and is likely an ambitious goal for one year.