During the economic upheaval of the pandemic, reliance on Maine's General Assistance program skyrocketed, pushing state spending on the program to record highs. Now, with the state facing a projected $450 million budget gap, Governor Janet Mills is trying to scale back GA. But some municipalities and social service agencies warn proposed limits on housing assistance could push more people into homelessness.
Last fall, Marija and her young daughter fell on hard times. She said she got laid off suddenly from her job. Then, she said, her daughter's father, who'd been helping her cover rent, died.
Marija said she tried to cobble together support from a number of state programs, but it wasn't enough.
"So General Assistance was kind of like my last resort, my last option," she said.
Marija asked to be identified only by her first name, due to past experiences with harassment. Getting help with rent through GA, she said, was a crucial backstop.
"I was able to at least have a stable roof over my daughter's head," she said. "I didn't want to end up homeless with my daughter."
That's what GA was intended to be - a program of last resort, to help cover the cost of basic needs, such housing and utilities, for a limited period of time. Municipalities cover 30% percent of program costs, while the state picks up the remaining 70%.
But the Mills administration says the program is straining under increased demand and runaway housing prices. The cost of the program nearly tripled between 2019 and 2023, to $43 million, requiring several one-time funding infusions.
In her biennial budget, Mills proposes wrestling the state-funded portion of the program back to about $13 million annually, in part by capping GA non-emergency housing support at three months in any twelve month period. During her state of the budget address last month, Mills told legislators the decision was not arrived at lightly.
"Despite having stood up shelters and provided other subsidies, tax credits and loan programs for housing, I don't relish the idea of scaling back the General Assistance payments that go to housing," she said.
The three month cap would not apply to emergency temporary shelter, and there are exceptions for people with severe mental or physical conditions.
But some municipal officials, including Ryan Gorneau with the city of Portland's social services department, are concerned.
"We would fully expect that increase in homelessness, and then the unintended consequences of a strain on the shelter system," he said.
Gorneau said last year, some 600 households in the city received GA housing assistance for longer than three months, meaning they could have been cutoff under the proposed limit.
The Maine Mayors Coalition, which represents Auburn, Sanford, Waterville, and other cities, said capping state reimbursement could leave local governments on the hook for any additional support.
Maine House Republicans have pointed to Portland as the cause of ballooning GA costs. House minority leader Billy Bob Faulkingham recently posted a video on social media shot on the steps of Portland city hall.
"General Assistance is a good program when it's used correctly, but here in Portland, they spend 50 times more per person on General Assistance than the rest of the state," he said.
But Portland mayor Mark Dion told a legislative committee this week that the city plays an outsized role in supporting the state's homeless population.
"They come [to Portland] because there's nothing in their home communities," Dion said. "It's not really a secret."
Dion said the city has leaned to GA to help get people off the streets and into stable housing. But he said it takes many people more than three months to get on their feet to a point where they can start supporting themselves.
"We are getting people to that place," he told lawmakers. "You can't do it in 60 or 90 days. That's just the hard truth."
Another group that would be particularly affected by the three-month cap are asylum seekers, said Claude Rwaganje with the group ProsperityME.
That's because asylum seekers are ineligible for most federal aid programs, and are required by law to wait at least six months before gaining work authorization.
"Whose landlord is going to sign a contract to place someone when they know that they only have funding for three months?" he said.
Rwaganje said asylum seekers are playing an important role in filling Maine's worker shortage, and that helping them get on their feet should be viewed as a labor force investment.
Meanwhile, Marija, the single mother in Scarborough who turned to GA last year, is not waiting around to see what happens with the Governor's budget proposal.
She's said she's busy applying for jobs, in the hopes that next month, she won't need to make an appointment with the GA office.
