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Maine lawmakers are scheduled to meet this week to parcel out the remaining state dollars that weren’t included in the budget package approved last week. Increasing support for the state’s emergency homeless shelters should be at the top of their list.
There are 40 shelters for those experiencing homelessness in the state, but most are barely hanging on. An adult shelter in York County closed last month. It had been operational for 45 years. With emergency fundraising appeals, York County Shelters Programs, Inc. was able to keep its family shelter operational.
The emergency shelter in Aroostook County also faces closure without increased financial support. The Bangor Area Homeless Shelter faces a budget shortfall next year.
There are already four counties in Maine with no emergency shelters. The number of people who are homeless in Maine is on the rise, and it far exceeds the 1,200 shelter beds across the state.
That’s why additional state funds are essential.
According to a recent report from Maine Housing, it costs $102 a day to provide housing and services at emergency shelters. Staffing is the biggest expense. Funds from the state provide only an average of $7.12 a night. Shelters generally make up the difference through donations, municipal support and partnerships with other agencies. The amount of state support for shelters hasn’t increased in nearly a decade.
LD 698, sponsored by Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross, the former speaker of the Maine House, would provide an additional $5 million a year to more than double the amount of state funding for emergency shelters. This would bring state support to about $19 a night for shelters.
Lawmakers failed to approve even that small amount last week, leaving the bill in limbo on what is known as the appropriations table.
It is time for lawmakers to take the bill off the table and to fund these vital services.
“Providing a modest increase in Maine’s shelter operating subsidy — a subsidy that has remained flat for nearly a decade despite both rising costs and increased demand— will make a huge difference in sustaining these vital statewide resources,” Chris Hayes, the Presque Isle chief of police, and Sagadahoc County Sheriff Joel Merry wrote in a column published by the Bangor Daily News last month.
“The stakes are simple but stark: Without adequate shelters, people will suffer, and law enforcement will be overwhelmed,” the law enforcement officials wrote. They note that law enforcement is not equipped to provide the services — mental healthcare, housing navigation, substance abuse treatment, domestic violence care, and food — that those who are unhoused often need. “Investing in shelter services is a safer, cheaper and more effective response to homelessness.”
There are many needs that weren’t addressed in the budget adjustment lawmakers passed last week and state resources are limited. But state funding is available to make this small, but sorely needed, investment in the state’s emergency shelters.
Lawmakers should fund this bill.