Thank you to the more than 320 attendees at the November 13th, Maine Affordable Housing Coalition Policy Conference. We had engaging and informative presentations and panel discussions, and everyone enjoyed the chance to network with colleagues, exhibitors, partners, policy makers and friends. The event wouldn’t have been possible without the support of our many sponsors, presenters, and participants. Below are the presenter slides, award winners, and all speaker biographies.
- Laura Mitchell, MAHC slides – MAHC Mitchell Slides 11.13.24
- Jennifer Schwartz, NCSHA slides – NCSHA Schwartz Presentation 11.13.24
- Josh Fifield and Tim McCarty, Clark Insurance slides – Clark Ins Presentation 11.13.24
MAHC recognized three award winners for the Elizabeth “Libby” Mitchell award, the Rick McCarthy Award, and the new Business Champion Award.
- The Elizabeth H. “Libby” Mitchell Award is given every other year by MAHC to an individual who has demonstrated outstanding leadership in addressing Maine’s affordable housing problems. It was first awarded in 2009 to Senate President Elizabeth “Libby” Mitchell, in recognition of her many years of commitment to housing issues, both as a director of Maine State Housing Authority and in her role as a state legislator. In subsequent years, the award has been given to House Speaker Hannah Pingree, Senator Chris Rector, Representative Andre Cushing, MaineHousing chairman Peter Anastos, Representative Peggy Rotundo, House Speaker Mark Eves, Senator Amy Volk, Senator Roger Katz, Congressman Jared Golden, and Representative Victoria Morales.
In 2024, the award was presented to Senator Teresa Pierce. Senator Pierce served as the Senate Chair of the State’s first Joint Select Committee on Housing, which was a springboard for unprecedented policy progress on housing in Maine. Under her leadership, legislation from the Housing Committee made historic investments in housing production across Maine. These investments incentivize developers to build more affordable housing units, with some programs especially tailored to workforce housing and housing in rural areas. She worked tirelessly to prevent student homelessness with a pair of new laws – one that established programs to help students and families on the verge of homelessness stay in their secure housing and the other that provides housing subsidies to help students currently experiencing homelessness. Senator Pierce leveraged the Housing Committee to tackle statewide zoning changes to increase housing affordability, advancing dedicated funding for housing first supportive housing, championing housing as a bipartisan foundation for our state’s economic success, and so much more!
- The Rick McCarthy award is named after Rick McCarthy, the longtime legislative advocate for MAHC. As a beloved leader among the state house halls and a staunch believer in housing as a human right. Rick passed away in July of 2020. The McCarthy Award honors someone who embodies the spirit of Rick’s integrity and bipartisan approach, with a long-term dedication to affordable housing. The award has been presented to Greg Payne, former executive director of MAHC and the senior advisor on housing policy in Governor Mills’ Office on Policy Innovation and the Future; as well as Dana Totman, who retired after 30 years as executive director of Avesta Housing, the largest nonprofit affordable housing developer in Maine. Dana also helped found MAHC.
In 2024, the award was presented to Chris LaRoche, the executive director of Westbrook Housing Authority who has worked tirelessly to make affordable housing accessible to all Maine people over the last three decades at York County Community Action Agency and Westbrook Housing.
- The new Business Champion award honors a business that has gone above and beyond to support MAHC’s mission of creating affordable housing.
In 2024, Kennebunk Savings Bank worked closely with Avesta Housing to create 70 units of affordable housing for seniors on unused property abutting their headquarters. Kennebunk Savings Bank recognized the housing affordability challenge in their hometown and decided to do something about it. They donated land to Avesta to build affordable senior housing. But it didn’t end there. Developing housing is a long process that requires many levels of approval. Kennebunk Savings CEO Brad Paige spoke up at local planning sessions and shared a strong message to the media about their support for housing, even against community push back to the development. For directly investing resources, and leveraging their influence to provide affordable homes – MAHC recognized Kennebunk Savings Bank with their first ever Business Champion Award.
