1. Emergency shelters are a pathway to housing. Most emergency shelters offer more than a place to sleep. Professional shelter staff support individuals and families in navigating housing options, addressing barriers, and connecting to employment and healthcare supports to move out of homelessness as quickly as possible. 

2. Funding shelters makes sense for local budgets. When shelters lack funding, more people end up outside in dangerous elements, increasing both human and financial costs. A 2025 study showed that even temporary shelter access reduces the stress on a state’s emergency response system, including police calls, emergency room visits, and medical transports, which cost taxpayers money. More importantly, shelters save lives. People surviving outdoors experience higher rates of illness, injury, trauma, and death, and they struggle to access housing programs designed to help them.   

3. Current funding levels aren’t cutting it. While the one-time funding from the state made a real difference last year, it was only a temporary fix. Shelters still need a lasting solution, especially since the main funding they rely on hasn’t increased since 2016. In May 2025, York County Adult Shelter closed its doors leaving the entire region without this critical resource, and many of our neighbors with no place to turn. We can’t let this happen again. Every shelter closure reduces the number of shelter beds in Maine, increases human suffering, and places greater pressure on police, emergency medical services, hospitals, municipalities, and on the next closest, already full shelter. 

Please submit testimony to the Housing and Economic Development Committee today!