Gov. Janet Mills has named a longtime housing advocate to advise her administration on housing policy as it ramps up efforts to address a growing critical need for affordable housing in Maine.

Greg Payne, who has been development officer at Avesta Housing in Portland and director of the Maine Affordable Housing Coalition for nearly 15 years, will become Mills’ senior adviser on housing policy on Sept. 7.

The position was created to help the Mills administration meet demand for about 20,000 affordable, safe and accessible housing units across the state, according to the Maine State Housing Authority. To make a serious dent in that need — which has grown more acute in the last year during a pandemic-driven real estate boom — housing advocates say the state should promote policies and provide funding to help developers build at least 1,000 housing units per year.