AUGUSTA - Rep. Laura Supica, D-Bangor, the sponsor of legislation to address homelessness, applauds the funding of major efforts to expand affordable housing and support emergency shelters across the state.
LD 1733, the bill to allocate the federal relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, provides $50 million to the Maine State Housing Authority to build affordable housing options and incentivize coordination among relevant stakeholders including municipalities and community providers to address homelessness in Maine. An additional $10 million was also approved to fund maintenance, operations and capital improvements for existing emergency homeless shelters around the state. The legislation funding these efforts, LD 1733, was signed into law by Gov. Janet Mills last week.
The funding measures incorporated elements of Supica's bill, LD 1300, that would require coordination among county commissioners, the Statewide Homeless Council, regional homelessness councils and municipalities to develop and implement plans to address homelessness within each county. After passing in both the House and the Senate, LD 1300 has been held over until the next legislative session to explore possible program expansion.
"Service center communities like Bangor and Portland often take in and provide support to folks from around the state seeking housing and services," said Supica. "This model for responding to homelessness in Maine is ineffective and overly burdensome to those communities and detrimental to the individuals seeking help. I sponsored LD 1300 to establish a coordinated effort that better serves those experiencing homelessness as well as the communities tasked with providing these services. I am grateful to see federal funding has been allocated to support these efforts."
Supica is serving her first term in the Maine House of Representatives and represents District 126, part of Bangor. She sits on the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee. Prior to serving in the Legislature, Supica served for three years on the Bangor City Council, where she worked on issues related to housing and homelessness.
Contact:
Jackie Merrill [Supica] c. 812-1111