Housing
This section of the BDN aims to help readers understand Maine’s housing crisis, the volatile real estate market and the public policy behind them. Read more Housing coverage here.
A town of fewer than 1,700 people on the edge of Moosehead Lake at first glance appears to be approving more housing per capita than most other communities in the state.
The State of Maine Housing Data Portal shows Greenville in Piscataquis County approved building permits for 89 housing units in 2025. That’s 53 new homes per 1,000 residents, and nearly triple the number that Bangor approved last year.
But Mike Roy, Greenville’s town manager, said that’s not correct, and he has “no idea where 89 came from.”
In reality, Roy said the community’s planning officials approved building permits for three duplexes and 23 single-family houses last year, totaling 29 new homes.
The error reveals flaws in the state’s database, which was heralded as the best way to understand whether the state is meeting its housing production goals. Without an accurate number of how many homes are being approved in the state, it’s impossible to know if Maine is on track to fix its years-long housing shortage.
A bill Gov. Janet Mills signed into law last year requires Maine communities with at least 4,000 residents to report how many building permits for housing they approved in 2025, among other information. It’s designed to monitor if the state is making progress on its goal of building 84,000 new units by 2030, as set by the State of Maine Housing Production Needs Study.
When the first wave of new data was released last month, politicians touted it as proof that Maine was surpassing its housing production goals and signaled the state could overcome its housing crisis.
“Each new home helps reduce housing costs and puts housing in the reach of more Maine people, so families can put down roots, our employers and our economy can thrive, and our communities can grow and prosper,” Mills said.
The Greater Portland Council of Governments and Maine Office of Community Affairs sent online surveys in January to more than 500 communities, regardless of their size. The questionnaire included instructions and guidance for how municipalities should report their information.
They received answers from 182 municipalities, which hold nearly 90% of the state’s population, said Rick Harbison, senior planner and data manager for the Greater Portland Council of Governments.
Tim Post, Greenville’s code enforcement officer, said he recalls seeing the survey, but was told the community didn’t need to submit answers due to the town’s small size.
“If I see it next year, I’ll make sure I send it in so it’s accurate,” Post said.
For communities that didn’t complete the survey, Harbison said the organization used data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
“I would be lying to say it’s a perfect data set especially with the census estimates,” Harbison said.
From the responses and census data, researchers concluded that Maine communities approved 7,500 new homes in 2025, exceeding the state’s goal of 6,900 units.
Researchers followed up with about 10 communities that completed the survey to check their numbers if they seemed inaccurate, Harbison said. This revealed some towns counted new outbuildings, such as sheds or garages, as accessory dwelling units, even though no one was living there.
This appears to be the case in Dixfield, an Oxford County town of 2,300 people that approved permits for 58 new housing units, according to the data portal. That’s 25 homes per 1,000 residents.
Eric Giroux, Dixfield’s code enforcement officer, said 58 permits sounds accurate, but that number includes additions on existing homes and other buildings, such as storage units and those built in solar field developments.
Dixfield’s town manager submitted numbers for the community, according to Giroux. Dixfield plans to continue participating in the survey.
“You won’t have the right numbers if you don’t respond back, and the state can’t give you help if you don’t respond to them,” Giroux said.
Incorrect data could deter developers from bringing needed units to a town, said Mike Wilson, senior program director at the Northern Forest Center, a New Hampshire-based nonprofit that’s building 24 units in Greenville.
“As a housing developer, it’s helpful for us to understand what else is happening in a given community so we’re able to evaluate demand,” Wilson said.
The nonprofit was drawn to Greenville after local employers said they’ve struggled to hire and maintain workers because they can’t find an affordable place to live, Wilson said.
The $12.5 million project will create single-family homes and duplexes, which range from one to three bedrooms, intended to be sold or rented as workforce housing.
“The demand for second homes and short-term rentals is absorbing a lot of the available housing stock,” Wilson said. “It’s not uncommon for highly attractive recreational communities to become unaffordable for year-round residents.”
While Harbison said he’s “pleased with how many communities reported” and feels the database accurately reflects the housing development happening across the state, he hopes more towns complete the survey next year, regardless of whether they’re required to.
That’s because numbers coming from municipal staff are usually “more trustworthy and reliable” than Census data, Harbison said.
The Maine Office of Community Affairs and Greater Portland Council of Governments will send the next survey in January, which will gather housing production data from 2026, Harbison said. Until then, researchers will consider how the information collection process could be improved.
“I was very happy with how it all went,” Harbison said. “It’s helpful data to have and to be able to see how towns compare against each other and what the totals for the state are.”
Rep. Traci Gere, D-Kennebunkport, who presented the bill creating the data collection method, said there are no immediate plans to require more communities to report their housing production.
Gere said the first year of the data collection effort is expected “to have glitches” and researchers will use the feedback to improve data accuracy in the coming years.