The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has unveiled a new policy around homelessness.
The changes may force hundreds of vulnerable Mainers into homelessness — or into a shelter system that's already stretched to capacity.
Under the new policy, federal funding will be shifted away from programs that have provided long-term, supportive housing for chronically unhoused people.
Federal assistance for permanent supportive housing would be gutted and capped at 30%, with funds shifted instead favoring transitional housing programs with work requirements. Maine currently has more than 1,600 permanent supportive housing units.
"This really matters," Dean Klein, executive director of Maine's Continuum of Care, said in an interview Friday. "This funding has been the backbone of homeless funding in our state for people who are the most vulnerable."
State housing officials said Friday that they're still working out the exact implications of the new policy. The announcement has been long-anticipated by Maine's Continuum of Care, which secures federal funding on behalf of a network of housing and social services providers around the state.
Back in October, Klein had previously estimated that the policy change could impact 780 Mainers, who risk losing their housing and potentially becoming homeless when current funding runs out.
But on Friday, Klein said that number would likely change, as federal funding for rapid rehousing — programs that provides housing navigation, social services and funding assistance to help those experiencing homelessness find housing more quickly — was implicated in HUD's policy changes as well.
Regardless, Klein said permanent supportive housing programs have been an effective model in Maine.
"For chronically homeless, the elderly and the youth, this model is critical to stabilizing them and providing opportunities for them to be stable in our community, rather than being unsheltered and really, being at risk for dying," Klein said.
HUD has said it will no longer automatically renew grants for existing programs, so some beneficiaries could lose assistance if their programs are not continued. New grant money will not be released until May, and so Klein there's a possibility that some Maine programs — if they're renewed — may experience a lapse in funding.
In addition, HUD said it will prioritize applications from states or providers who comply with federal law enforcement and enforce anti-camping bans.
HUD officials have said the new policy represents one of the most significant changes to the Continuum of Care in the program's history. It also builds on an executive order that President Donald Trump signed over the summer, which calls on states to move some unhoused people into treatment, including through involuntary commitment, if necessary.
"We are stopping the Biden-era slush fund that fueled the homelessness crisis, shut out faith-based providers simply because of their values and incentivized never-ending government dependency," HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement.
