Lewiston-Auburn landlords will get a little less money for subsidized tenants next month, under new federal rules.

Portland landlords will get a lot less.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s new rate structure for Section 8 rentals recast each city’s fair market rent based on the average price in the entire county. The potential fallout was highlighted Tuesday at the 2004 Governor’s Annual Affordable Housing Conference in Augusta.

“Nationally, county designations work very, very well,” said Robert Cwicka, deputy director of HUD’s Office of Public Housing of New England.

But in Maine, it has dropped the amount HUD considers reasonable for a two-bedroom apartment in Portland from $859 to $756.

In Lewiston-Auburn, the price dropped $2, to $544.

In Bangor, it went up $20 to $618.

About 12,000 families in Maine use Section 8, allotting 30 percent of their income to rent while the government picks up the rest. Thousands more are on waiting lists.

Cwicka said he’s hopeful the changes will be stayed by Oct. 1 and the current year’s rates frozen.

But even that is bound to upset apartment owners, said John Hodge, executive director of the Brunswick Housing Authority. Costs like heating oil, taxes and insurance go up every year.

“If (the market’s) tight, the landlord doesn’t have to accept that,” he said. “They’ll say goodbye and rent it to someone else.”

In most cases, landlords can’t discriminate against people using the federal subsidy, but they also do not have to reduce their prices to accommodate it. Someone with an approved voucher for $544 couldn’t rent a place for $600 without agreeing to pay extra for the difference.

Hodge said the price shift could lead to a concentration of poverty in low-rent districts.

Supply and demand will determine whether someone would, for instance, take their Portland voucher and use it in Lewiston, said Dan Brennan, director of asset management at the Maine State Housing Authority.

HUD proposed the change as part of a plan to cut $1 billion from its budget.

The theme at the housing conference was “Celebrating Partnerships,” marking MSHA’s 35th anniversary.

In collaboration with 40 banks and thousands of real estate agents, more than 40,000 people have bought homes using MSHA programs, according to Gov. John Baldacci.

Through 11 community action programs, MSHA gives heating oil assistance to 50,000 households a year, he said.

Former Gov. Ken Curtis, who created MSHA, said in a video presentation that the agency had “dramatically helped improve living conditions” in Maine.