MaineHousing

City officials said the Expo will serve as a bridge while longer-term facilities get up and running.

MaineHousing is relaunching a pandemic-era program to help more homeowners handle late mortgage payments, overdue heating bills and other housing costs.

As more than a dozen entities prepare to use state emergency funds to open and expand overnight warming shelters for the remaining weeks of winter, officials in Auburn say plans to get a shelter of their own up and running have fallen through.

MaineHousing is helping fund several developments in southern Maine that will be reserved initially for asylum seeker families, but advocates say it won't be enough to fully address the housing challenges of new immigrants.

MaineHousing will funnel at least a portion of new emergency funds, worth up to $21 million, to communities across the state to expand existing overnight shelters and warming centers or open new ones this winter.

The home is made entirely from a wood-based material, which University of Maine researchers say is an inexpensive, renewable and recyclable building option.

A legislative commission will recommend that the governor declare a state of emergency as Maine's emergency rental assistance program winds down. More than 8,500 Maine households received benefits under the program as of last week.

Municipalities have heard that rental assistance funds will dry up completely near the end of November, and towns are worried that they will become flooded with applications for general assistance.

MaineHousing said it's seen unanticipated uptick in demand over the last several weeks, and funds for the emergency rental assistance program are limited.

Community action programs around Maine are bracing for what they believe will be a sizeable increase in the number of Mainers calling for emergency fuel this winter, as heating assistance funds won't stretch as far due to high energy costs.