PORTLAND, Maine — The ongoing housing crisis is pushing Mainers to the brink.
As more and more people from out of state look to buy homes, rent, and invest here, it is forcing some to take desperate measures.
"It's overwhelming," K Bunten said. "I contact someone about a property they listed and within an hour they've taken it down because they've had too many applicants, or they've taken it down because they already rented to somebody."
Bunten, a mother of two with another on the way, said she and her family have had to move into a hotel because they cannot find any affordable rentals in the Portland area.
She said she has been looking for rental units for months with no luck, eventually having to move out of her previous home when the lease was up.
"It's really disappointing, to feel like I can't—there's not even an option to stay here. I don't see any options at all," Bunten said.
More than 25,000 Mainers are on the waiting list for rental assistance, according to data shared by the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition.
That is up more than 100 percent, or doubled, from this time two years ago.
"It's awful. It's worse than we've ever seen," Executive Director Greg Payne said.
According to Payne, the pandemic and surge in buyers into an already saturated market has made an already bad situation even worse.
"The supply of housing is not rising with that demand, what you're seeing are these price shocks which is just causing an unprecedented level of desperation," he said.
The state received some $200 million in federal COVID-19 rental relief, but organizations working to distribute it are backed up for months.
This all as the moratorium on evictions statewide is set to end come June 30.
"If those applications aren't processed quickly enough, you could see a serious spike in evictions and a whole lot more problems in our housing market," Payne said.
That is why democratic state lawmakers are pushing forward dozens of bills to help address the issue.
The legislature's Housing Working Group held a press conference in April to lay out their proposals, including greater assistance for renters and incentives for cities and towns to get more affordable housing built.
According to the Maine State Housing Authority, there's a huge glut in the number of units being produced each year. The target is 1,000 new units annually, but over the last five years, the state has averaged just 230.
"We have identified that this is a crisis in our state, and it's neutral on party lines," said Rep. Victoria Morales, D-South Portland said at April's press conference. "Housing instability happens to every single one of us, or could."
Even as lawmakers look to address the long-term needs, for those like Bunten, they desperately need help now and have nowhere to turn.
"I know I'm not alone," Bunten said.