MaineHousing Welcomes New and Reappointed Members to Its Board of Commissioners

The Maine Senate unanimously approved the appointments of Melissa Hue, Betty Dietz, and Frank O’Hara in February

AUGUSTA – MaineHousing is pleased to announce that Melissa Hue of Portland has joined its Board of Commissioners.

Hue, who works as the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity for the City of Portland, was appointed to the Board by Governor Janet Mills in January and unanimously confirmed by the Maine State Senate in February.

Hue holds both a bachelor’s degree in Medical Biology and a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of New England.

She also serves on the Maine Workforce Board and has previously served as the City of Lewiston’s Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Hue is also a fellow of the John T. Gorman Foundation.

MaineHousing Board of Commissioners Chairman Frank O’Hara, of Hallowell, and Commission Member Betty Dietz, of Veazie, were both reappointed to four-year terms on the Commission by Governor Mills in January and unanimously approved by the Maine State Senate during a confirmation vote in February.

During their confirmation hearings before the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Labor and Housing, Hue, Dietz and O’Hara offered testimony on their appointments and answered a variety of housing-related questions from lawmakers on the panel.

Hue emphasized the importance of housing in building healthy, economically viable communities and the critical role a stable and safe home plays in an individual’s overall wellbeing.

O’Hara, who was first appointed Chairman of the Board in 2022, brings more than 40 years of housing, planning, and policy research to the role. He has been an independent public policy consultant since 1987. He previously worked for MaineHousing as the organization’s Director of Research and Program Development.  In addition to market study work, he has authored several housing-related studies on affordability, policies, elderly housing, housing preferences, and the cost of sprawl.

Dietz brings more than 50 years of public service and housing-related work to the Board and has extensive experience working in finances in the fuel oil/LP gas industry, Medicare benefits, and elderly housing. She recently retired as the Finance Manager/Bookkeeper for the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter. Her volunteer work includes experiences with Hospice, Elderly Medicare SHIP clinics, church councils, and several Maine non-profits including the Holocaust and Human Rights Center of Maine.