Sawyer Loftus, Bangor Daily News

4 posts

Sawyer Loftus is an investigative reporter at the Bangor Daily News and was named the state’s journalist of the year by the Maine Press Association in 2024.

Sawyer previously worked for Vermont Public Radio, The Burlington Free Press and VTDigger. He was also the editor-in-chief of the Vermont Cynic, the University of Vermont's independent student newspaper. He is based in Bangor.

Contact Sawyer via email: moc.s1754652655wenyl1754652655iadro1754652655gnab@1754652655sutfo1754652655ls1754652655

illustration of a person receiving an eviction notice in the mail.

Are you a public housing resident behind on rent? Received an Eviction Notice? Here’s what to know in Maine.

If you’re one of 1.6 million tenants living in public housing nationally, including 6,000 in Maine, here are some available safeguards.

BySawyer Loftus, Bangor Daily News

August 6, 2025

An illustration of a woman, seated on a bench outside of a building, reading a manila file that another person hands to her. An inset illustration shows the same woman carrying a cardboard box with a houseplant as she walks by a stack of taped cardboard boxes toward the street.

A Maine woman paid her back rent. Her record still says she was evicted.

Repayment plans are supposed to help public housing tenants avoid eviction. In Maine, these deals have put evictions on their permanent records, even if they’ve fulfilled all the terms and were never actually evicted.

BySawyer Loftus, Bangor Daily News

August 5, 2025

A gif of housing images that disappear to reveal the cover page of a lawsuit.

The USDA wouldn’t let her give up her house when she couldn’t pay her mortgage. Instead, it crushed her with debt.

The USDA failed to follow its own guidance for a rural mortgage program, taking years to foreclose on delinquent loans. As a result, 55 Maine borrowers racked up, on average, $110,000 in additional debt before the agency moved to take the homes.

BySawyer Loftus, Bangor Daily News

July 18, 2025

Linda Gallagher-Garcia poses for a photo.

Maine public housing tenants face eviction at high rates. A new program to keep renters housed excludes them.

A new eviction prevention program fails to protect some of Maine’s most vulnerable residents from homelessness.

BySawyer Loftus, Bangor Daily News

December 12, 2024