rental assistance

The program would be funded through graduated increases in the Maine real estate transfer tax.

City officials called on the state to coordinate asylum seeker resettlement efforts across municipalities.

The end of Maine's emergency rental assistance program has sparked confusion around the state, as community action agencies spend their last remaining funds.

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.

The program was designed to distribute federal relief money to people who needed help paying their rent or utility bills during the pandemic, but it has been paused for new applicants last month amid rising demand for help and dwindling funds.

More than 400 fraudulent applications amounting to nearly $6.5 million have been submitted to Maine's pandemic rental relief program since it launched last March.

The city of Portland is making half a million dollars in CARES Act funds available to help Portland renters affected by COVID-19.City Housing and…