Low-barrier homeless shelters a little more hopeful after new state funding

Elena's Way is a shelter operated by Preble Street for individuals experiencing homelessness as well as complex physical and behavioral health needs who cannot access any other shelter. (AnnMarie Hilton/ Maine Morning Star)

This past winter, the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville served twice as many individuals in their warming shelter than the year before. The shelter is one of four low-barrier options across the state, all of which have been increasingly stretched with the ongoing, overlapping challenges of drug use and the high cost of housing, among others.

The shelter’s chief executive officer Katie Spencer White joined with her counterparts to warn lawmakers in December about the urgent need for additional support.

The supplemental budget that passed in April included $2.5 million per year for the next three years to support privately operated low-barrier shelters. The staff and volunteers who are normally left to host bake sales and rely on private philanthropy to provide a bed at night for people who would otherwise sleep outside say that additional funding is critical.

“That kind of relief is going to be incredibly helpful,” said Mark Swann, executive director of Preble Street in Portland. 

For some of the facilities, that money could truly be a lifeline. As Swann, Spencer White and the other low-barrier shelter representatives told the Legislature’s Housing Committee, they were at risk of closing because of a combined $4 million deficit. 

Low-barrier shelters accept guests regardless of substance use, criminal involvement, mental illness or other ongoing needs. This service is much needed, but it can be costly to provide because they often need more robust staff and resources such as overdose reversal medications

Preble Street runs two low-barrier shelters in Portland with a total deficit of about $2.5 million, Swann said. While it is not yet determined how much of the money will go to each shelter, Swann said the funding has the potential to cut the deficit in half. 

Additionally, Preble Street has been working on a plan to take over Hope House, the low-barrier shelter in Bangor that announced it would be forced to close if it couldn’t secure a financial partner. The plan isn’t final yet, but Swann said the additional funding is a “game-changer” for the potential partnership. 

“It gives us hope that we can keep our shelters open and possibly take over the Hope House shelter in Bangor,” Swann said. 

Penobscot Community Health Care, which currently runs Hope House, said the money will allow the shelter to stay open while it continues the process of transferring operations to a new partner. 

Spencer White of the mid-Maine shelter agreed the additional funding is helpful, although it won’t solve all of the challenges the low-barrier shelters face.

“What we received through the supplemental budget stabilizes us for today,” said Spencer White. 

Shelters aren’t immune to growing costs from inflation, or from the increased need that Spencer White said they’ve seen in Somerset and Kennebec counties. 

For example, the warming center is currently funded for 20 beds, Spencer White said, but on many nights there were closer to 30 people sleeping there. Spencer White said the shelter isn’t turning people away — especially in the winter when it is more unsafe to sleep outside at night — but that means the cost of those 10 additional beds aren’t accounted for. 

Attempts with legislation

In January, the Housing Committee took up two bills that sought to increase the ongoing funding for homeless shelters, one of which specified $2.5 million for low-barrier facilities. The bills were combined, with some funding still earmarked specifically for low-barrier shelters. 

The committee also added a study component to the bill to look into the root causes of homelessness. 

The final bill (LD 2136) ultimately received bipartisan support from the Housing Committee and passed both chambers of the Legislature. The bill itself officially died because it was not explicitly funded by the budget committee. However, Rep. Drew Gattine (D-Westbrook) introduced an eleventh-hour addition to the final budget that included the three-year funding for low-barrier shelters, as well as money to start a subsidy for homeless students and an eviction prevention pilot program.

Though Spencer White found the proposed study interesting, she said it didn’t ask the right question. The root cause of homelessness is the state’s shortage of affordable housing, she said. Rather, she argued that lawmakers and other people working to solve the problem should learn more about who shelters are serving, what services they need and how to afford it.

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