My goal as governor is to reduce the number of homeless people in Maine to zero. On January 23, 2024, 2,695 people were counted as homeless in Maine. https://mainehousing.org/docs/default-source/policy-research/research-reports/homeless-reports/2024-point-in-time-report.pdf?sfvrsn=85d69e15_3 This was a one-day snapshot required by the federal government and likely undercounted the number of homeless. The generally accepted number of homeless people at the present time is 5,000. This is a disgrace. The photo above is of a homeless encampment in Portland, Maine. The encampment was subsequently cleared out, forcing the occupants to go elsewhere. Forcing people to live in tents and pushing them from place to place is evidence of a government that has failed.
Approximately $100 million is spent each year on Maine’s homeless. Where and to whom is that money going? It has become a cottage industry for many individuals and organizations that receive this money all the while the number of homeless grows. It costs $107 to house one homeless person for one night. This is another disgrace.
The cost for publicly funded housing in Maine is $350,000 per unit. This is yet another disgrace.
I support short-term solutions for the homeless such as constructing so-called pallet shelter villages until they can get their lives in order https://palletshelter.com/build-a-village/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT0_HQrtklA I also support expanding Maine’s Housing First program https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/22/title22sec20-A.html .
The costs of buying and renting housing have skyrocketed. This is largely driven by supply and demand and was inevitable. Our state government was asleep at the wheel as prices rose beyond affordability for most Mainers. My goal will be to fund and/or finance through the Maine State Housing Authority https://www.mainehousing.org/ the construction of at least ten thousand low rent permanent public housing units. We will also set up interest bearing accounts for every resident of this public housing. A portion of their rent payments will go into this account which will only be used to purchase a home.
Gubernatorial candidates who pledge to spend $100,000,000 in public monies to construct housing rely on a public that doesn’t know or understand how government functions. The legislature-not the governor-appropriates public monies.
Generally speaking, Maine needs to spend more public monies helping people who need help. This money will largely come from shifting existing tax revenues to housing and homeless programs, increasing tax contributions from the wealthy, operating government more efficiently and effectively, eliminating special interest tax exemptions, and carefully identifying and decreasing waste, fraud and abuse of public funds and programs.
