AUGUSTA, Maine — Heading into the second half of the 131st Legislature, Republicans in the State House are pointing out state spending for social services for asylum seekers.
Specifically, during weekly press conferences, where just several weeks ago Republican leaders brought up the statistic that $34 million was spent to house asylum seekers, which currently numbered a little over 2,000 in 2023.
"Last week we broke the biggest story of 2024," House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham said. "We don't feel like it got the coverage it deserved."
Republican leadership then called on Governor Mills' administration to discuss the spending.
Republicans also called out $13.9 million for putting asylum seekers in hotels, and more than $3 million used to build new transitional housing for asylum seeking families.
On Jan. 30, during another Republican press conference, leadership also said the governor's administration wanted to bring 75,000 new Mainers to the state by 2030.
A review of state documents and emails with MaineHousing found that while some of these claims are true, the money spent is not much when compared to the other social services.
Documents shared with NEWS CENTER Maine by MaineHousing showed that while $34 million was spent on asylum seekers, it was part of a three-year, $55-million emergency housing fund. It also accounts for just three percent of funding Maine Housing spent in general during that three-year period.
"Housing help for those legally seeking asylum in Maine accounts for less than 3 percent of the total spent over the last three years on housing help. It is a sliver of the funding that goes towards housing. Additionally, these investments have helped dramatically increase not only emergency shelter capacity they are also helping create new and lasting affordable housing infrastructure- homes in our communities that will be here for decades to come," MaineHousing said in an email.
MaineHousing also confirmed other parts of its spending, including the construction of transitional housing for asylum seekers in Brunswick.
"The issue of asylum seeker support has garnered attention in Maine and elsewhere, so we wanted to provide a complete picture. It is also important to point out that non-citizens do not qualify for Section 8 housing choice vouchers, which are the primary source of rental assistance available through our agency," MaineHousing said in one of its documents.
The 24-unit transitional housing building in Brunswick that made news over the help it provides to asylum seeking families will be financed by the private developer, with only $1 million provided by emergency housing funds from MaineHousing.
MaineHousing said the hope is when asylum seekers get their work permits authorized, which could take more than a year after applying once arriving to the U.S., they would start working and contributing rent payments.
"To put this in perspective, less than 3 percent of the $1.239 billion MaineHousing allocated in 2022, 2023, and 2024 was for asylum seeker-specific housing services," MaineHousing said in its documents.
The final claim, that 75,000 New Mainers would be brought to Maine by 2030, is not entirely true.
While early iterations of this plan may have been vague, specific text in the state's 10-year Economic Development Strategy states they won't be relying on refugees and asylum seekers to fill that 75,000.
"Attract 75,000 people to Maine’s talent pool both by increasing participation among Maine’s existing population, and attracting new people from out of state — thus turning a potential labor force shrinkage into a gain," the state said in its report.
When speaking with Republican leadership, House Minority Leader Faulkingham said that even if some of these figures are not a lot of money, they are to other groups of people who want to see more social services, like homeless individuals or aging Mainers.
"It's great they're trying to make it sound like a small and insignificant amount of money... tell that to the number of people who need a place to put their older loved one," Faulkingham said. "We got nursing homes struggling and closing all the time... all kinds of issues Mainers are facing and then we find out brand new apartment buildings are being built and we're housing asylum seekers in them."
In the latest budget discussions, Governor Janet Mills proposed $10 million to support employment in nursing homes and up to $50 million per year to keep nursing homes running.