HUD awards $13M to Maine programs for reducing homelessness

Photo / Maureen Milliken MaineHousing is one of five government and nonprofit organizations in the state to share $13 million in federal funding to help combat homelessness.

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By Staff

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded $13,121,653 to five Maine organizations, ranging from the state Department of Health and Human Services to a Portland crisis center, in an effort to reduce homelessness in the state.

The money comes from HUD's House and Human Services Continuum of Care Program. Allocations are:

Maine Department of Health and Human Services, $9,941,063
Preble Street, Portland, $1,084,835
City of Bangor, $1,001,378
Community of Housing of Maine Inc., Portland, $26,117
Maine State Housing Authority (MaineHousing), Augusta, $788,366
Through These Doors (formerly Family Crisis Center), Portland, $279,894.

The CoC Program is designed to promote a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness. That includes providing funding to nonprofits, state and local governments to quickly rehouse homeless individuals, families, those fleeing domestic violence and youth, while minimizing the trauma and dislocation caused by homelessness, according to a news release from the office of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine.

The program also promotes access to and effective use of mainstream programs by homeless people and families, and works to increase self-sufficiency for those experiencing homelessness.

HUD released its Annual Homeless Assessment Report earlier this month, and determined Maine has an estimated 2,106 homeless people, or 4.5% of the state's population. The report stressed that while homelessness is decreasing in many states, partnerships like those funded with this appropriation, are key. To compile the report, a homeless census is taken on one night in January across the country. The report found that on the January 2019 night the census was taken, 568,000 people in the U.S. were homeless.

“This important funding supports our state’s efforts to help the most at-risk Mainers by providing them with additional resources to promote their health, independence, and overall well-being,” said Collins, chairman of the Housing Appropriations Subcommittee.

Collins has worked to secure more than $2.8 billion in the fiscal year 2020 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Bill to help communities design and implement local solutions to end homelessness, according to a news release from her office. The legislation was signed into law last month.