Victoria Morales, executive director of the Quality Housing Coalition. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

More than 100 Maine families have avoided losing their homes this month thanks to a new statewide program designed to prevent evictions.

But MaineHousing’s eviction prevention program has proven more popular than anticipated, and there are more than 1,200 families in line for help and another 200 on a waiting list. All are hoping for their share of a rapidly dwindling pile of money.

Victoria Morales, executive director of the Quality Housing Coalition, said the agency knew the need was great, but that the extent was even more than expected. The Quality Housing Coalition is the program administrator, meaning the nonprofit is charged with receiving the applications, processing them based on eligibility and passing them along to MaineHousing, which makes the payments.

“We’re receiving 200 calls a day,” Morales said. “We knew we’re in a housing crisis, we know we need supply, we know we have high point-in-time (homelessness) counts, we know we have a high risk of evictions – but I don’t think any of us appreciated how many of us are in need of this kind of support and housing debt relief.”

A ‘LIFE-CHANGING’ DIFFERENCE

The one-year pilot program provides up to $800 a month in rent relief and a one-time payment to catch up on back rent, paid directly to the person’s landlord.

The $18 million program is designed to target Mainers most vulnerable for eviction – those making less than 60% of the area median income and paying less than 125% of fair market rent for the area in which they live. They cannot be living in subsidized housing or using a federal housing voucher.

In Portland, that includes an individual making less than $49,749, or $70,980 for a family of four, according to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

MaineHousing lists “fair market” rent in the Portland metro area as $1,563 for a one-bedroom apartment and $2,011 for a two-bedroom, including utilities. Fair market means that 40% of standard-quality rental units are rented for less money.

Real estate company Zillow, meanwhile, lists the average rent as $1,963 for a one-bedroom and $2,500 for a two-bedroom, not expressly including utilities.

Rep. Drew Gattine, D-Westbrook, pushed for the program’s inclusion in the budget and said this spring that the $800 is enough money to make a “life-changing” difference for many Mainers.

“A $300 or $400 subsidy would be really helpful for somebody, but for people with really low incomes, that would not be enough to keep them housed,” he said at the time.

PAYING OFF HOUSING DEBT

The state has received more than 1,200 applications, with approximately 200 more on the waitlist. More than $525,000 has been distributed to landlords, and $15.8 million of the $18 million is spoken for. Just 49 applications have been disqualified or withdrawn.

Applications have come from all 16 counties, with the highest numbers originating from Cumberland, Penobscot, Androscoggin and York counties.

Statewide, families on average have received $756 per month on top of an additional payment of $4,834 in back rent.

In Portland, where only 76 applications have been submitted, the average monthly payment is $800, with just shy of $6,000 in back rent paid.

The money is limited and won’t be enough to address everyone’s needs, but Morales anticipates helping more than 1,000 families.

The first payments went out the last week of October, and within three weeks, people were joining the waitlist.

For the roughly 40% of renters who can’t afford their housing, the payment of their housing debt makes room for meeting other needs, like car repairs or family expenses.

“Having that extra cash can really help people move to that next stage in their life,” Morales said.

MORE FUNDING NEEDED 

MaineHousing wasn’t surprised by the demand, spokesperson Scott Thistle said. The popularity only underscores a need that goes beyond a one-time infusion of $18 million.

“The uptake on this just shows how incredibly difficult it would be to sustain a program like this with only state funding,” he said, adding that whether there can be other rounds is a decision for the Legislature.

Aside from the immediate goal of keeping about 3,000 adults and children housed over the winter, the program also aims to help housing advocates learn more about the people it’s helping.

“What’s really important is to learn about how folks get in this situation,” Thistle said, “to try to help us inform policies going forward that can help prevent that.”

The housing agencies will check in with recipients in six months to see how they’re doing and if they’re still eligible. They will complete a housing survey to gauge what the program has done so far and if and how they’re planning to avoid housing insecurity in the future, though Morales noted that they’re not blaming the recipients for their circumstances.

“We do have a statewide housing crisis,” she said.

EVICTION FILINGS TRENDING DOWN 

Eviction filings are down so far this year compared to previous years.

In the first nine months of the year, there were 3,517 eviction filings (which are not the same as evictions) compared to the same period last year, when there were 4,579.

Experts are divided on why the numbers are trending down when the housing crisis seems to only be worsening. Some say that it’s a sign things are improving, while others argue that last year was the anomaly – evictions rose when the pandemic-related eviction moratoriums expired, so the decrease in 2024 showed things returning to normal. There were 3,989 filings in 2019, before the pandemic-era stays on evictions.

It’s too soon to say what impact the program may have on eviction filings for 2024 and 2025, but Morales said keeping people housed can only mean good things.

“Our economy just can’t survive and our businesses just can’t survive if the people working there (and) their children are going to lose their housing,” she said.