Homeless Taskforce Update #7 (11/06)

This Report is on the Unhoused Populations within Sanford, Asylum-Seekers and Unhoused Residents within Sanford. It is being reported bi-weekly to the City Council in preparation for any legislative actions as well as to inform the general public of actions being taken.

Currently, there are two major categories of people without housing at this juncture; 1) recent immigrants crossing our Country’s Borders seeking Asylum and transported to our City, 2) Citizens of our Country, predominantly Residents of Sanford/Springvale, who are without housing for a number of reasons.

Asylum-Seekers (AS):

Current Status:

Temporary Housing
- 2 families in temporary housing
Permanent Housing Work
- 33 families permanently housed in Sanford for a total of 126 people
- 4 families permanently housed in Lewiston for a total of 13 people
- 1 family permanently housed in Arundel for a total of 6 people
- 2 families are in long-term host homes w/ Sanford residents placement for a total of 4 people

General Assistance has had several newly arriving immigrant, non-asylum seekers, having work or other visa types seeking assistance, a new trend.

Vicki Martin, Sanford General Assistance Director, recently represented the City at a regional meeting around the pending formation of the Office of New Mainers, Greg Payne from the Governor’s Office of Innovation facilitated. Director Martin was able to express the lack of a centralized data base and related impacts upon GA, the shear volume of contacts as a burden, and the financial burden is detrimentally impacting the Office. There was a general consensus that General Assistance was not designed for this situation and the State needs to separate and carry the full costs. Further the language barriers were also identified as difficult and burdensome. The Office of new Mainers is being formed to address these types of impacts for the near future.

Ongoing Financial Impacts:

General Assistance utilization for Asylum-Seekers in October was $75,359 of 74% of total expenditures for the month. Housing at $44,883 and Food at $25,023 were the two largest areas of expenditures. For the first quarter of the Fiscal Year, GA has expended 3.2 times on Asylum-Seeker Families than has been spent on our Resident population.

Gross Expenditures for GA, if not reduced, are projected to reach over $1.2 million in FY 23/24 in comparison to the Budget of $300,000. The currently adopted Budget for FY 23/24 did not anticipate the impacts of the Asylum-Seekers as at the time of Budget Adoption, the City had not yet experienced any of the current flow and or impacts.

Resident Unhoused Population:

The City’s Homeless Task Force was activated to again increase the efforts around addressing our Resident Unhoused Population, people originating in Sanford/Springvale (or the close Region) who have become or have been unhoused for an extended period for various reasons. The Sanford Police Department Mental Health Unit (MHU) tracks the number of contacts, interviews the contacts, and maintains a data base of the Unhoused and the associated reason/s for being unhoused. Due to the rapid increase in the number of Unhoused in the last year as well as the increased presence of financially unhoused, mental health and most dramatically Substance Abuse Disorder (SUD), the Task Force was activated to further address homelessness.

Task Force Meeting #7 November 6, 2023

Current Status provided by Sanford MHU:

190 Unique Contacts to date of Unhoused Individuals
141 are known to be living outside or in cars, and increase of 6 in the last two weeks
- 5 are juveniles
Notification of 9 recent evictions resulted in 2 additional people currently outside
1 person was recently taken to recovery
- 3 more people are now pending – timing and capacity must align

There is a rising number of people becoming unhoused due to economics, incomes no longer able to support the current cost of living, and or displaced due to untreated disabilities.

General Assistance utilization for Residents for the month of October was $25,427 or 26% of the total expenditures. Housing at $18,670 and Food at $1,369 were two of the largest areas of expenditures. These expenditures are in alignment with the City’s Budget for gross GA Expenditures of $300,000 for the year as trending.

The Task Force agreed to the informative impacts of the full presentation warranted an elected Officials Forum for all of the York County State Legislators and Elected Officials, Select Persons and Councilors, to convey the size and impact of Homelessness in York County prior to the Legislators return to August in January as warranted. The type and number of homeless we are seeing typically was thought of as being a Portland or Cumberland County centric situation that is now pervasive in York County and growing rapidly outstripping all available resources.

Carter Friend, York County Community Action Corp Director is taking the lead on reaching out to Managers in the following Communities to participate; Sanford, Biddeford, York, Eliot, Kennebunk, and Old Orchard Beach. All of the York County State Delegation, York County Commissioners, and Local Elected Officials will be invited to the Forum.

Areas to address in the Forum will be;

Compilation of Homeless Statistics from the 6 Communities – translation of impacts for County
Leading Reasons for becoming Homeless, Who and Why
Burden Upon Local Services and Providers
Impediments to Housing as tracked
ALICE Study impacts – “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed” or previously known as “The Working Poor” 45% of York County Families fall below the ALICE threshold
Coordination of Services using Coordinated Entry
Summary State of Recommendations
Data Walk and provided information to take home

City Manager Buck is working on procuring the Sanford Performing Arts Center for the Forum now as either December 13 or 14, 2023. These dates align with Legislators who are key in this area and their current legislative roles in Augusta.

The next Report should provide the details around the pending Forum.