MaineHousing Announces Grants for Long-Term Solutions to Homelessness
The 22 grants will provide $7.7 million in funding for new shelter development and supports to prevent homelessness and aid in housing navigation
AUGUSTA — MaineHousing Thursday announced it is awarding $7.7 million in grant funding to 22 different entities working to find long-term solutions to end and prevent homelessness in Maine.
“These grants will help add much needed support and important new infrastructure for Maine’s homeless response system,” said MaineHousing Director Daniel Brennan. “With just under $8 million available and over $34 million requested, these awards were carefully selected to most effectively increase our response system’s capacity and enhance its capabilities in each of the nine regional homeless hubs.”
This funding will add facilities and resources to serve as many as 1,000 people with emergency shelter, and housing navigation and prevention support, that will aid people of all ages, helping them stay housed or find housing options.
The funding is part of Maine’s Emergency Housing Relief Fund, that was provided to MaineHousing to finance homeless solutions in Maine, which was once again replenished by Governor Janet Mills, with the support of Maine’s Legislature, earlier this year.
Brennan said recognition of the need for additional infrastructure and supports for Mainers facing housing instability and homelessness has been a top priority for the Governor and Maine’s legislative leaders consistently over the past several years.
“We have been fortunate that our elected leaders have directed surplus revenues toward improving the lives of the most vulnerable people in Maine,” Brennan said. “As a result, we are making steady progress in our efforts to combat homelessness, thanks to the enormous work of our many partners around the state.”
The grants announced Wednesday touch all parts of Maine and represent support for both new facilities and housing supports that will leverage additional local funding that will see these proposals through to completion.
These grants also highlight some new, innovative and collaborative approaches that will bring services to parts of Maine, including significant population centers like Lewiston-Auburn, that are lacking the resources they need to adequately respond to homelessness in their communities.
About MaineHousing:
MaineHousing is a mission-driven, independent, quasi-state agency created in 1969 by the Maine State Legislature to address the problems of unsafe, unsuitable, overcrowded, and unaffordable housing. A $2.5 billion financial institution with a staff of over 190 people, MaineHousing is governed by a 10-member Board of Commissioners appointed by the Governor. Each year MaineHousing assists more than 90,000 Maine households to buy, heat, rent, and repair their homes while also investing more than $750 million in the Maine economy.
