Lewiston, Maine housing advocates push for rent caps [Video]

LEWISTON, Maine — Advocates and renters gathered Thursday at the Lewiston offices of the Maine People’s Alliance where they called for increased rights for tenants and a limit to the power of landlords.

“The element I want to work into the conversation is the counterbalance between the owning class and the tenant class,” Chris McKinnon, a volunteer with the Maine People’s Alliance, said Thursday. 

McKinnon said their team is calling for greater rent stabilization and limits on how much landlords can increase renters’ payments. 

Rent caps and restrictions are nothing new to Maine. The cities of Portland and South Portland have put such policies in place. But some at Thursday’s meeting felt cracking down on rent raising should become a policy statewide—even nationwide. 

“To prevent more of our neighbors from becoming unhoused, …