Maine homeless advocates, emergency shelters call for more state funding
A bill before the Legislature is proposing a $5 million annual increase to the state's Emergency Shelter and Housing Assistance Program, which is used to help cover operating expenses and services at 40 emergency shelters around the state.
The program has been flat-funded in the state's general fund budget at $2.5 million since 2016, according to the bill's sponsor, Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland.
"This bill is a practical, fiscally responsible step to prevent shelter closures and ensure that Maine's emergency response system remains functional," Talbot Ross told the Housing and Economic Development Committee during a public hearing.
The program is just one piece of how shelters pay for their operating costs, contributing about $7 of the average per-night cost of operating a shelter bed in Maine, which is $102 per night, according to a recent study from MaineHousing. The remainder of shelter funding typically comes from fundraising, grants and municipal aid, according to Talbot Ross.
Shelter providers as well as MaineHousing, an independent, quasi-governmental agency that works to address housing needs, testified in support of the bill, LD 698, on Tuesday, saying the increase in funding is needed to sustain operations amid rising costs and a persistent housing crisis. The $5 million increase would bring state funding to $19 of the $102 per bed nightly cost.
But Gov. Janet Mills' administration has also warned that this is expected to be a tight budget year, and while no one testified against the bill Tuesday, the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future said in written testimony that the administration has been unable to identify sufficient revenues to fund the bill's proposal.
While funding for the program has not increased in the state's baseline budget since 2016, the office wrote that the administration and Legislature have in recent years provided $15 million in one-time funding, authorized emergency funds for warming shelters and last year made $10 million available to ensure the continued viability of five low-barrier shelters.
"We understand, however, that the 35 non-low-barrier shelters in the ESHAP network which did not benefit from last year's investment continue to struggle — as do their peers in states across the country — with highly limited budgets, rising costs and increasing needs," the office wrote.
"We are committed to working with the Legislature, shelter providers, MaineHousing, and local and federal government agencies to identify a more sustainable financial path for the Maine's emergency shelters," it added.
In addition to funding in the baseline budget, the program also gets federal support from Maine's HOME Fund, which is funded with a dedicated portion of the real estate transfer tax.
Shelter providers and several formerly homeless Mainers testified that the increase in state funding is critical.
Katie Spencer White, president and CEO of the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville, said emergency shelters are facing an "existential crisis" without new funding. She said her board recently approved a loan for $200,000 to help the shelter meet operating costs.
"If we don't take out that loan, we will close," Spencer White said. "If we close, people will die. We've reversed 30 overdoses since Jan. 1... What we do matters and not just to the people of Waterville."
Shelter operators said Tuesday that in addition to the funding from the state program, they also seek funding from municipalities, local businesses and churches and other philanthropic donors, and grant funding, but it can be difficult to cobble together enough.
Some shelters utilize the state's General Assistance program to help pay for shelter nights, but Spencer White said her shelter and many shelters in smaller communities around Maine do not, in part because the program also requires a municipal reimbursement that can be burdensome for the communities the shelters are based in.
Many people staying at shelters also don't qualify for General Assistance for reasons including, for example, if they have income from a disability or Social Security, Spencer White said.
Karen Gonya, a board member at Homeless Services of Aroostook, which operates the only homeless shelter north of Bangor, said the organization served 216 adults and 18 children last year in its shelter programs, and helped 90 people with its warming shelter.
"We are struggling right now to meet payroll," Gonya said. "We are limiting expenses, from basics like turning down heat to the more drastic step of cutting staff hours. But without more reliable funding, we are worried about the future of our shelter. It would be such a tremendous disservice to our region... to not have a homeless shelter."
Lisa Franklin, a Portland resident who was formerly homeless for a year after leaving an abusive relationship, told the committee that it was her stay at the former Oxford Street Shelter that allowed her to access critical medical and social services and rebuild her life.
"People of all ages, races and genders experience homelessness for a variety of reasons," Franklin said. "As the rate of homelessness continues to rise across our state, it is imperative that our homeless shelters remain open and funded."
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