Maine Cities and Towns Now Required to Allow Homeless Shelters Under Unanimous New Law

This week, hundreds of new Maine laws are beginning to take effect. Among them is a unanimous bill preventing municipalities from prohibiting homeless shelters.

A short piece of legislation, this new statute simply states that cities and towns in Maine cannot block homeless shelters from existing within their borders.

It is explicitly said, however, that the law does not infringe upon municipalities’ right to home rule in terms of regulating these facilities.

For the purposes of this law, homeless shelters are defined as a “housing facility” with the primary purpose of providing “temporary overnight accommodations” to those who are homeless.

After an amended version of this bill was unanimously approved by the State and Local Government Committee and, subsequently, both chambers of the Legislature, Gov. Janet Mills (D) signed it into law at the end of May.

When this bill was first up for consideration in Augusta, several lawmakers and some advocacy organizations offered testimony in support of the bill.

“I’m a supporter of the home rule provision of the Maine Constitution,” said bill sponsor Rep. Grayon Lookner (D-Portland), “but when one municipality’s exercise of home rule adversely affects everyone else, and requires other municipalities to increase taxes on their residents to provide for the neighbors that other municipalities have been neglecting, it creates problems for everyone that undermines home rule.”

A report released in July by the Maine State Housing Authority indicated that the total number of homeless individuals statewide has decreased slightly since last year, but authors urged the public to keep in mind that these figures are only reflective of a “point in time.”

This year’s figure comes as part of an ongoing trend where the size of the state’s homeless population has steadily been returning to lower pre-pandemic levels.

According to the report, many of those who were being housed in motels have likely turned to other housing options, like couch surfing, that are not included under the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) definition of homelessness.

Based on reporting from Catholic Charities of Maine, over three-quarters of “asylum-seeking households” have secured employment and moved from motels or transitional housing programs into “permanent housing of their own.”

MaineHousing also called out the state’s warming shelters as playing a critical role for the state’s homeless population during the winter months, explaining that many have “benefited from the expanded shelter capacity created by temporary winter warming shelters.”

They go on to explain that this increased capacity was funded through the Emergency Housing Relief Fund from 2023 to 2025, which “expanded system wide shelter capacity by about 350-400 beds.”

[RELATED: Warming Centers to Receive Combined $2.3 Million in Grants This Winter]

It was announced earlier this month that the state will continue to provide monetary support to warming shelters, distributing $2.3 million in grants to twelve centers across seven counties.

This latest round of financing is expected to add 338 beds to the state’s total warming shelter capacity this winter.

Now that 90 days have elapsed since the Legislature adjourned sine die, officially ending their session, the new law preventing cities and towns from prohibiting homeless shelters will now take effect.

This 90-day clock applies to all non-emergency bills and resolutions approved during the legislative session. Legislation given an emergency designation and passed by a supermajority of both chambers is eligible to take effect as soon as it is signed into law by the governor.