Housing
Municipal Funding Opportunities to Support Housing Legislation
The Housing Opportunity Program, within the Maine Office of Community Affairs (MOCA), has funding to support municipalities with implementation of recent housing legislation: LD 1829, LD 997, LD 427, and LD 1184. The Program anticipates providing this funding to municipalities over the course of 2026 in multiple rounds.
Municipalities can receive funding assistance for LD 1829, LD 997, and LD 427 in one of the following three rounds:
Round 1: Applications and Program Statement for grant funding open in early January 2026, with awards anticipated to be made in March 2026, with an expected start date of April 1, 2026. Municipalities may apply for up to $15,000 to amend land use ordinances to comply with LD 1829, LD 997, and LD 427. Round 1 will prioritize municipalities that adopt ordinances through a town or city council form of government, but town meeting towns may still apply
Round 2: This round of funding and a Program Statement are anticipated to open in early March 2026 and remaining open on a rolling basis through May 2026 until all funding has been allocated. A municipality will be eligible to receive a one-time payment of up to $10,000 through an invoicing system to amend land use ordinances to comply with LD 1829, LD 997, and LD 427.
Round 3: This round of funding and a Program Statement are anticipated to open in July 2026 and remaining open on a rolling basis through September 2026 until all funding has been allocated. A municipality will be eligible to receive a one-time payment of up to $10,000 through an invoicing system to amend land use ordinances to comply with LD 1829, LD 997, and LD 427.
Additionally:
- Between January and early May 2026, there will be reimbursements available for municipalities with 4,000 or more residents to complete the data collection and reporting outlined in LD 1184. More information to come in early 2026.
- There will be a guidance document for LD 1829 available later in January. Guidance documents for LD 1829, LD 997, and LD 427 are anticipated to be released later in January.
- Also in late January, the Housing Opportunity Program will be holding training and informational sessions for municipalities related to these bills.
Questions? Please reach out to the Housing Opportunity Program at housing.moca@maine.gov
Update from the Maine Housing Opportunity Program (HOP)
Draft final rule for LD 1829, An Act to Build Housing for Maine Families and Attract Workers to Maine Businesses by Amending the Laws Governing Housing Density has been released. The final rule also enacts changes from LD 997 and LD 427.
The draft final rule is open for public comment through 10/31/2025. A public hearing will be held at 10AM on 10/20/2025 via Zoom.
KVCOG will continue to track this process and provide updates to our communities as we receive them. Please note, the deadline to implement these land use ordinance changes is 07/01/2027. It is anticipated that funding will be available to municipalities via a grant program to offset the cost of updating your ordinances to come into compliance with these legislative changes.
Housing Opportunity Program: Municipal Land Use And Zoning Ordinance Rule (PDF)