Lawmakers have unanimously voted to advance a bill allocating additional state funding for homeless shelters, explicitly reserving a portion of this funding for low-barrier shelters, and convening a stakeholder group to develop a 10-year plan to address the “root causes of homelessness” in Maine.
LD 2136 was sponsored by Rep. Anne-Marie Mastraccio (D-Sanford) and introduced to the Legislature earlier this year.
This bill allocated a total of $12.5 million worth of ongoing funding to homeless shelters located throughout the state, with $2.5 million of that being reserved specifically for low-barrier shelters.
The Maine State Housing Authority is also directed in this legislation to amend their rules in order to ensure that this $2.5 million — or an equivalent percentage of their funding in future years — continue to be reserved exclusively for low-barrier shelters going forward.
According to the Maine State Housing Authority’s Homeless Solutions Rule, a low-barrier shelter is an emergency shelter that does not require sobriety, criminal background checks, credit checks or income verification, program participation, or identification in order for an individual to be provided shelter.
These rules subsequently define an emergency shelter as a facility whose primary purpose is to provide temporary shelter to homeless individuals.
Testimony provided to the Housing Committee by LD 2136 co-sponsor Rep. Kristen Cloutier (D-Lewiston), the state budget currently allocates a total of $2.5 million to homeless shelter operations throughout Maine.
LD 2136 also directs the Statewide Homeless Council — an advisory committee for the Maine State Housing Authority specializing in issues related to homelessness — to establish a stakeholder group tasked with developing a “10-year plan to address the root causes of homelessness in the State.”
Included in this group will be those who operate or manage shelters, someone who is in charge of maintenance or facilities management at a shelter, those with experience providing “assistance and counseling” to individuals seeking stable housing — also referred to as “transitional lifestyle counselors” — and professionals with experience providing “substance use disorder and mental health counseling” to those who are homeless.
Also serving on the stakeholder group will be the Executive Director of the Maine State Housing Authority and representatives of municipal and county law enforcement.
Among the responsibilities of this group will be to “examine the root causes of homelessness by gathering information from a wide variety of professionals and volunteers who provide hands-on services to individuals in need of emergency shelter services.”
They will also be directed to study how other states have reduced the demand for homeless shelters and to consult with a wide variety of experts and individuals with relevant personal experience to inform their research.
The group will also be responsible for developing “the framework for a 10-year plan to significantly reduce the number of residents of the State who need emergency shelter services.”
By November 6, 2024, this stakeholder group must submit to the Legislature’s Housing Committee a report detailing their findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation.
Click Here to Read the Full Text of LD 2136
“I know that ongoing funding for anything is a hard sell because we have so many worthy requests,” Rep. Mastraccio said when she presented this bill to the Housing Committee, “but this is an emergency.”
“While this bill will not fix the issues of homelessness or housing affordability in our state,” Rep. Cloutier testified, “it will help to alleviate some of the burden on our shelters, who are struggling and require more financial resources to stay afloat.”
Members of the Housing Committee unanimously voted in support of passing LD 2136, and it was approved by both the House and Senate without a roll call vote.
This bill now faces a final vote in both the House and Senate before being sent to Gov. Janet Mills (D) for a signature.
Homelessness is a new industry, a scam to extract taxpayer money to develop the infrastructure for a permanent underclass in Maine. Homeless shelters and harm reduction clinics are coming to rural Maine. Bangor Homeless Shelter and other major players from Bangor are partnering with RSU67 school district and a new ngo harm reduction startup in Lincoln called Save a Life to bring this nightmare into our community. And watch out for groups like Penquis. These people are up to no good in rural Maine.
“Root Causes” of Homelessness in Maine are Democrats.
Homelessness stems from 1. Air B n B short term rentals pricing locals / year round renters out. All those empty houses and apartments are not Chinese weeds grows. They’re reserved for out of state yuppies that spend more money in the community than you do, 2. There are no careers in Maine that pay a livable wage with respectable increases where people can afford to live.
P.S
You idiots that think democrats are the problem are beyond stupid. You are only half right. The republicans love cheap labour. The RINO’s love south of the border migrants. Look up Koch brothers and their meat packing plants and how Donald J. Trump sent ICE in to raid their plants. Koch brothers (republicans) are one of biggest $ funders fighting Trump 2024 reelection.
Man and woman charged in Westbrook shooting
WGME
15 Mar 2024
“ Investigators now say they arrested 41-year-old Willie Banks and 27-year-old Nadira Thomas… Police say both were banned from having guns.”
Dave
3 hours ago
“Root Causes” of Homelessness in Maine are Democrats.
thank you ya saved me the effort
He shot him in the head:’ New details revealed in case of man shot by Presque Isle police
WGME
9 Feb 2024
“Poitraw was legally prohibited from possessing weapons, but he had “easy access” to AR-15 style weapons.”
There were @ 3,400 Covid deaths in Maine. 90-95% were caused by CDC/FDA hospital protocols (Remdesivir & intubation), NOT the virus. Early treatments with Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine were forbidden which have now been proved effective (Dr. Meryl Nass’s license was suspended by the state medical board, for example).
My question is, why aren’t we holding the ME CDC and the governor accountable for the deaths of over 3,000 Maine people, Maine’s own version of 9/11?
The gun grab is such a scam and so is the reliance on political hacks and bureaucrats for guidance for a man made virus which is really a bioweapon created by the CCP and financed by the Fauci cabal.
Maine is lost. It’s become a permanent Democrat stronghold. We’re importing endless immigrants who we will pay for. Housing prices will keep going up due to the influx of out-of-staters and “asylum seekers”.
DEI (Didn’t Earn It or Diversity Equity Inclusion) practices will push out good working white men of Maine from many jobs and replace them with “diversity”
Every business grant or “free service” offered on the Maine Gov website is given to women, “people of color”, lgbtq, etc (nothing goes to straight white men) – you can literally look for yourself.
They are literally taking money directly from you and redistributing the wealth to others. Why the hell do we allow this?
As a 45 year resident of Bangor the logical approach would be to accept that everything Bangor has done recently to combat homelessness has only made the situation exponentially worse. Recognizing this reality Bangor officials would be wise to acknowledge everything done so far has failed miserably and armed with that reality stop placating homelessness and start trying to discourage it. Maybe one way bus (or jet) tickets to NYC, Washington DC, or southern California.
Leftists in Augusta and towns in Southern Maine are making poverty the state’s largest industry.
Shameful.
They cause problems then swoop in with “remedies” that just make everything worse.
Pretty easy to see, democrats importing illegals financing shoddy housing to house them while Maine citizens go without! Not only are they housing them but paying them, feeding them and making towns dumping grounds for non-productive entities that increase crimes of all types. How is that not a crime on society? Mills and all her minions should be held for crimes against humanity!!
After suffocating building codes; endless planning board requirements and other regulations enacted against housing, people wonder why there is a housing shortage. Government regulation caused the housing shortage. Government regulation and intervention will NOT fix it. 90 pages of baloney have to be submitted to build 6 units of private rentals in a town. It must cost $40,000 to pull that information together. Reduce the sprinkler requirement in Portland and other towns to start, and go from there. It was the old “balloon” type construction that made properties unsafe. Dumb, big government results in high cost construction.
How do.expect all.those Non-profits to get rich? Think the Catholic Charities and others care, they are making big bucks bringing ILLEGALS to Maine.