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| 📷 Rep. Drew Gattine, D-Westbrook, sits at his desk in the House chamber after the swearing-in of the new Maine Legislature on Dec. 7, 2022. (BDN photo by Troy R. Bennett) |
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🏬 A Mills-backed bill envisions 400 new units of supportive housing.
◉ One of the reveals in the governor's budget speech was her support for a statewide expansion of a "Housing First" model, which provides homeless people housing before linking them with mental health or substance misuse treatment.
◉ The model gained national popularity in the 1990s and has been used in Portland since 2005 and in other pockets of Maine as well. Studies, including some conducted in Maine, have shown it is a more cost-effective method than shelter-based care, which require more emergency services.
◉ The bill Mills backed comes from Rep. Drew Gattine, D-Westbrook. It has not been printed yet. But after working with housing policy experts, he said Wednesday that roughly 400 Mainers could benefit from the model at up to 15 different locations under the proposal.
◉ "It is the availability of the services that has made the handful of Housing First projects we currently have in Maine so incredibly successful and cost effective," Gattine said.
✍️ The lawmaker accused of signature fraud gets arraigned today.
◉ Embattled Rep. Clinton Collamore, D-Waldoboro, is scheduled to be arraigned in Wiscasset this afternoon on 20 felony charges and roughly a dozen misdemeanors for allegedly defrauding the state's taxpayer-funded campaign system during the 2022 election cycle.
◉ He and his attorney have been silent since his indictment was made public last month, even after House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross, D-Portland, called on him to resign. Collamore continues to collect legislative salary and benefits despite not showing up for legislative work since mid-January. |
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What we're reading
🚫 Organizations still can't apply for Bangor's federal relief money.
🧾 I have a guide to free tax filing in Maine. Here's your soundtrack.
👨⚖️ Mills' high-court nominee cleared a legislative panel with two dissenters.
🏀 The high-school basketball tournament is under way. Read our coverage.
⌨️ In the BDN's opinion section, Phil Harriman and Ethan Strimling agree (mostly) on paid family and medical leave and Matthew Gagnon discusses proposals aimed at aiding the lobster industry. |
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