(The Center Square) — Maine Gov. Janet Mills is proposing a three-month limit on emergency housing for homeless families as Republicans vow to push for welfare reforms in upcoming budget negotiations.
Mills’ preliminary fiscal year 2026 budget calls for raising tobacco and cannabis taxes and scaling back several public health programs as the state seeks to reduce a projected $450 million shortfall.
Tucked into the $11.6 billion spending plan is a proposal to set a three-month per year limit on housing assistance to reduce spending on the General Assistance program, which has ballooned since the pandemic.
The Mills administration argues that the changes are needed to restore the program to its original intent of providing time-limited emergency housing. Costs for the program have increased threefold since the pandemic to $43 million in fiscal 2023, which state budget writers attribute to the use of hotels as emergency shelters. Even with limits on the use of hotels, spending is still higher than the $10.4 million baseline budget, officials said.
Under the proposal, which requires legislative approval, families who qualify for emergency shelter and people with severe mental or physical disabilities would be exempt from the three-month limit, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency said people who have applied for Social Security Administration aid would also be exempt.
Welfare benefits are expected to be a sticking point in upcoming budget negotiations, with the Legislature’s Republican minority vowing to oppose higher taxes and push for changes in public assistance programs.
Last year, Republicans accused Mills of secretly paying for housing and other public benefits for migrants as part of an underhanded effort to boost the state’s population.
The GOP lawmakers pointed to budget figures showing more than $33 million from the state’s Emergency Housing Relief Fund, which pays for homeless shelters and has been used to provide housing for migrants. The spending highlighted by Republicans included $14 million for what they described as a “Taj Mahal” hotel in Saco to house about 85 migrant families and $5.3 million for a migrant shelter in Portland.
Mills administration officials have pointed out that Maine is required by law to provide temporary housing and other public assistance for migrants as they wait for federal work authorization.
Maine Republicans have blamed the stress on the shelter system on former Democratic President Joe Biden for the influx of asylum seekers, accusing him of allowing an “open border” with Mexico during his four-year tenure.
They say Biden’s immigration policies had a direct impact on Maine, straining emergency housing and social service programs, hampering Maine’s tourist economy and fueling a rise in fentanyl-related overdose deaths.
