Homelessness across Maine dipped slightly over the past year, according to the state housing authority’s most recent report.
Statewide, the number of homeless Mainers dropped from 2,695 to 2,413, a small drop compared with the difference between 2023 and 2024 numbers. Last year, around 2,695 homeless people were reported by MaineHousing, dropping from around 3,726 reported in 2023.
Around 601 people were living in transitional housing, while 1,410 were living in Maine shelters on Jan. 22, 2025. Two hundred and eighty one people were reported to be unhoused on that date.
That information comes from the annual Point in Time Count. During the count, volunteers go to where people who are homeless are living, such as shelters and encampments, on a single night in January to gather information about them.
The number of Mainers in emergency motels was 121 on Jan. 22, down from the 348 that were reported by MaineHousing last year. Support to house people in emergency motels has significantly decreased since 2023, resulting in a 43 percent drop in motel stays between 2023 and 2025.
Since 2024, the number of Mainers who are considered “chronically homeless” increased more than 11 percent since 2024, while the number of homeless veterans increased by around 10 percent.
In Penobscot and Piscataquis counties, approximately 312 people were recorded as homeless on Jan. 22, a small increase from the 2024 count of 306. The majority of those surveyed were living in a shelter.
Cumberland County saw the largest overall decrease in homelessness, seeing 34.7 percent fewer homeless Mainers in 2025 than in 2024. That decrease is larger than the decrease reported across the entire state.