Another federal funding freeze by President Donald Trump could force more than 180 of Bangor’s most vulnerable residents into homelessness.
On Jan. 16, four days before Trump was sworn into his second term, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced Bangor would receive $1.5 million in federal funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to support the city’s services offered to residents who are homeless or have unstable housing.
The money was the latest in a series of awards that Bangor has relied on for years to run its rental assistance program, previously known as the Shelter + Care Program, according to Jennifer Gunderman, director of the Bangor Department of Public Health and Community Services. The program is entirely federally funded and gives eligible families vouchers to help cover their monthly rent.
As of this month, 184 people are housed under that program across 154 apartments, according to Gunderman.
“If we don’t have the funds to support the program, those people would have a high risk of moving into homelessness,” Gunderman said.
Once in office, one of Trump’s first acts was freezing all federal grants and loans so the administration could conduct an across-the-board ideological review of its spending and dismantle progressive initiatives. Even funds that had been awarded but not yet spent, like Bangor’s $1.5 million, were paused.
Though a federal judge blocked Trump’s funding pause before it could take effect, the attempt sent shockwaves through the country, and revealed how heavily some organizations, including those in Maine, rely on federal funds to keep those in need healthy and safe. On Tuesday, the same federal judge, U.S. District Judge Loren AliKhan in Washington, D.C., agreed to continue blocking Trump’s proposed funding freeze, the Associated Press reported.
When she heard about Trump’s plans to halt the flow of federal funds, Gunderman said nothing changed at the city public health department because, “We didn’t really know if or how we would be impacted.”
“Knee-jerk reactions can be not very helpful,” Gunderman said. “It was about waiting to see what was truly happening. We continue to do the work until otherwise.”
However, because the city’s housing voucher program is entirely federally funded, Trump’s funding freeze would have “shut off the faucet” to be able to keep the 184 people who rely on the vouchers housed, Gunderman said.
“We’d have to look and see what other resources are available to support this program,” she said.
While Collins said there’s “justification to take a hard look” at federal spending, she told the Bangor Daily News last month that she believed Trump’s proposed pause would be “far too sweeping.” Because of this, Collins is “concerned about the impact” of the order, which she believes will disrupt “a lot of important programs.”
At the time she announced the award, Collins said the funding would help tackle homelessness, which is “a significant issue in our state, made even more urgent during Maine’s harsh winter months.”
In addition to subsidizing participants’ rent, the program allows the city to inspect the apartments to make sure they’re safe and clean, and public health employees help maintain the relationship between tenants and their landlords to prevent the renter from being evicted.
Because the program targets people who are homeless and living with a mental health, substance abuse, or HIV/AIDS diagnosis, participants can also be referred to other programs and resources they might need, such as health care or job training.
