Maine’s homeless shelters will split nearly $5 million in one-time emergency funding under a law signed by Gov. Janet Mills last week.
LD 698, An Act to Sustain Emergency Homeless Shelters in Maine, will provide $4.47 million for the state’s 40 shelters.
Since the remainder of COVID-19 relief funding has evaporated, emergency housing facilities have faced financial shortfalls that threatened their ability to stay open. The emergency money is only for one year, rather than the annual $5 million for four years the bill originally stipulated. But Maine’s shelters will get $11 more per person, per night, which more than doubles the current level.
Shelters receive $7 per person per night from Maine’s Shelter Operating Subsidy, which provides a total of $3 million per year and is administered by MaineHousing.
For Homeless Services of Aroostook in Presque Isle, which operates northern Maine’s only emergency shelter, the news is a huge relief.
“It was a very welcome notification. It’s the breath of life that we needed,” Executive Director Kari Bradstreet said. “We’re going to be receiving $11 more a bed night for each person that we serve, so instead of the $7 that we’ve been getting it will be $18.”
The 57-bed shelter was teetering on a financial cliff months ago, with Bradstreet saying at the time it could face closure if money didn’t come from somewhere. She appealed to city officials in May for a $150,000 loan to bridge the gap, which city councilors approved in June.
Once the state funds come in, Homeless Services will repay what they borrowed, Bradstreet said.
Portland-based Preble Street, an organization that works statewide to provide barrier-free services to people who are experiencing homelessness, hunger and poverty, applauded the emergency funding legislation.
The passage emphasizes that, despite the federal government threatening to cut social services, Maine is “ensuring critical support” to its most vulnerable residents, Preble Street Advocacy Director Terence Miller said in a statement.
Groups including Homeless Services of Aroostook, Bangor Area Homeless Shelters, Tedford Housing of Brunswick, the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence and other organizations united to support LD 698, Miller said.
To sustain operations going forward, the Aroostook County agency and Presque Isle are forming a new partnership to address homelessness. It’s the first collaboration of its kind in Aroostook, but took inspiration from Bangor, Bradstreet said.
Last year, Bangor hired Jena Jones as its first homelessness response manager. Jones’ mission is to draw together the city’s various services and help get roofs over people’s heads. Jones aims to let the unhoused know where they can get help, and help the community understand who the homeless are.
Similarly, city leaders and councilors have worked for the past month to bring a new, compassionate approach to dealing with homelessness, City Manager Sonja Eyler said in a column for The County.
“This is no longer a silent issue. This is the “soft white underbelly” we cannot afford to ignore. And we aren’t,” she said.
The city is working with local, regional and state organizations to focus on ways to find housing, help those with mental health and substance abuse issues and offer other outreach, Eyler said.
For Bradstreet, that response is gratifying. Homeless services will work with the city and other local agencies to enhance services and offer resources to people who are homeless, including addressing encampments and people living on the street.
It’s not just about the money, she said.
“Our partnership is going to continue, and that’s the unique part,” Bradstreet said. “We wanted something that was going to be sustaining to us as an autonomous entity, but also to the community and the mission that we serve.”
