Christopher Valentim Fonseca Andre, 3, plays outside of the Howard Johnson Hotel in South Portland, where his family — who were seeking asylum from Angola — stayed in 2022. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald, file

Maine officials are preparing to end a transitional housing program for asylum seekers later this year amid high costs and a declining number of new arrivals to the state.

The Mills administration and MaineHousing, along with local officials and organizations, have been running the Asylum Seeker Transitional Housing Program since 2022.

The program has brought housing and support services to nearly 1,000 people at two sites in Saco and South Portland and has been key to managing an influx of asylum seekers to Maine over the last few years.

But the state hasn’t been able to identify funding to continue it beyond the current contract for the Saco site, which expires at the end of September.

And the number of asylum seekers coming to Maine has been decreasing, reducing the need for housing for those who are awaiting work authorization, according to a report released this week by the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future.

The report notes that it is difficult to predict how many asylum seekers will arrive in the future and whether the transitional housing program will be needed in some form after September.

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But a spokesperson for the office said Friday that recent federal immigration policy changes by the Biden administration have led to significant reductions in the number of new families crossing the southern border and arriving in Maine and other states, and that the Mills administration expects the number of asylum seekers coming to Maine will continue to decline.

While the South Portland site was only open for one year from July 2023 to June 2024, the Saco site remains open and at capacity, currently serving about 85 households, or 300 people, on a daily basis.

“As the site draws to a close, the Administration and MaineHousing will work closely with local partners to prepare and transition those served to other housing options,” office spokesperson Jackie Farwell said in a statement. 

RESPONDING TO INFLUX

Between the summer of 2021 and fall of 2024, Maine experienced a large increase in arrivals of immigrants. Monthly notice-to-appear filings sent to Maine zip codes soared from 24 in June 2021 to a high of 652 in Jan. 2023 and remained historically high until falling to 84 in November, according to the report.

A notice to appear is a document advising the recipient of the start of immigration proceedings in court. The notices are issued in asylum cases as well as other types of immigration cases, such as criminal proceedings or an overstay of a visa.

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The state, city of Portland and Catholic Charities Maine teamed up in 2022 to launch a transitional housing program in Saco in response to the influx of newcomers and to address the lengthy amount of time asylum seekers must wait to get work permits.

Under federal rules, asylum seekers are required to wait 150 days after filing an asylum application before applying for work authorization, which can be granted no sooner than 180 days after filing the asylum claim, though the process often takes longer.

Funds allocated by the state to MaineHousing were used to secure former hotels for the transitional housing program and to contract with Catholic Charities to provide and coordinate on-site supports, including cultural orientation, job readiness training, school enrollment, English classes, help applying for asylum and work authorization, and more.

A total of 84 households, or 241 people, were served at the South Portland site, while the Saco site has served 192 households, or 737 people, through December.

Most of the families have been asylum seekers from Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti. About 80% of those who have moved out of the program have gone to local permanent housing while smaller numbers left to move in with family or friends or migrated to other states or countries.

At the South Portland site, 83% of working-age adults eligible to work were successful in finding employment while in the program, while at the Saco site, more than 90% of working-age adults eligible to work secured employment, according to the report.

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Those who did not either could not work because of an inability to find childcare, enrolled full-time in high school, or could not work because of medical issues or disabilities.

“The program has proven to be a highly successful model in helping immigrant households transition and integrate into Maine because it goes beyond the provision of basic shelter and minimal services, to ensure that families have the health, education and workforce support they need to succeed while waiting for federal work authorization,” the report said.

NO FUNDING AVAILABLE TO CONTINUE

Still, the program was expensive, totaling $4.3 million for the one-year South Portland program and about $19 million for 39 months in Saco, with $16 million going to the hotel lease.

In the absence of the program, the state report said, the costs for emergency housing for the asylum seeking families would have fallen to the General Assistance program, which is paid for by the state and municipalities. The Mills administration also is proposing separate limits on General Assistance housing vouchers to try to reduce costs of the program.

Extending the Saco program would cost about $6 million for one year, including $5.1 million for a 12-month hotel lease.

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The state has explored purchasing the hotel — which would cost about $13 million to $17 million — but said the building would likely depreciate rapidly, as it was not designed for long-term housing. There would also be ongoing maintenance costs.

But the report said neither option seems to be viable given the budget constraints Maine is currently facing and the change in the inflow of asylum seekers.

The governor’s biennial budget proposal does not include funding for the program beyond the conclusion of the current Saco contract, and the state said it has also been unable to identify any federal funding that could be used.

The governor continues to support federal legislation aimed at speeding up the process for asylum seekers to be able to receive work permits, as well as other immigration reforms that would benefit Maine, Farwell said.

A spokesperson for the city of Portland, which has been involved in sending referrals to the program, said Friday that the city would work with the state and Catholic Charities on a transition plan if the program is discontinued after September, but further details on what that would look like and the impact were not immediately available.

NUMBER OF ASYLUM SEEKERS HAS DROPPED

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The number of asylum seekers coming to Maine has declined in recent months because of federal immigration policy changes, said Mufalo Chitam, executive director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition.

“We are seeing less people present and we are aware of the policy changes the current administration has put in place regarding limiting the number of people who are entering,” she said.

The Biden administration announced a series of measures in June to restrict asylum eligibility and increase consequences for those who enter the U.S. without authorization at the southern border, and said in October that additional steps would be taken to implement those policies.

U.S. Border Patrol reported a steep decline in encounters with migrants between December 2023 and August 2024, due both to Biden’s June executive order and Mexican authorities stepping up enforcement to prevent migrants from reaching the border, according to the Pew Research Center.

Still, Chitam said, the end of the hotel program would likely put more of a burden on the city of Portland, which runs a shelter for asylum seeking adults and houses many asylum seekers at its family shelter, and smaller private shelters that serve asylum seekers.

Asylum seekers who continue to arrive in Maine may also stay with family or community members in greater numbers, which will meet their need for shelter, but won’t come with additional supports such as English classes and help searching for a job.

“We still need transitional sites where people can come and live while waiting to get their work permits,” Chitam said. “That hotel has been giving people an opportunity for support while they wait. It’s serving a need, and we’ve seen it be successful.”

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