Even as Tedford Housing prepares for a ribbon-cutting next month at our new emergency shelter facility, events in Washington demand our focused engagement in advocacy and collaborative planning to protect the hundreds of people and dozens of communities who count on Tedford to provide a safety net. Unfortunately, staff at the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) have described forthcoming funding changes that would cause 170,000 people nationwide and at least 780 in Maine to lose their homes. The planned cuts would dramatically increase unsheltered homelessness and associated public safety costs, especially in rural counties that lack money to offset cuts. The Times Record readers deserve to know the outlook for Tedford and the southern Midcoast region.

First, the good news: Tedford Housing’s programs are already heavily reliant on philanthropy and state funding, not direct federal grants. Last year, gifts from generous individuals and foundations accounted for 48% of our overall operating budget, subsidizing more than half of costs for Tedford’s emergency shelters, Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) and homelessness prevention programs. Our Warm Thy Neighbor heating assistance is 100% donation-funded.

Now the bad news: $300,000 of Tedford operating revenue ultimately originates with HUD. This includes rental assistance that stabilizes our low-income and disabled PSH tenants, while also sustaining the PSH program itself. It also includes operating subsidies for our shelters. Under HUD’s forthcoming funding rules, these are both at risk. Details are scant, but here’s what we know: Maine dedicates about three-quarters of its HUD funds to permanent housing solutions. HUD wants to cap those uses at 30% of each state’s funding, meaning if Maine secures flat funding, the state would nonetheless be unable to subsidize housing for about 780 of its 1,300 PSH residents. Tedford’s 77 PSH residents, who live in 37 units across five towns, are among those who could lose the types of support they depend on.

More broadly, the entire homeless response system counts on federally funded rental assistance, or vouchers, to allow people who’ve lost their homes to regain stable housing. As we have seen with the ongoing freeze on new vouchers now in its 18th month, in the absence of rental assistance, shelter beds do not turn over, and the re-housing system slows to a trickle. The administration’s effort to sharply curtail long-term rental assistance is a fundamental threat to housing stability for Maine’s most vulnerable residents.

The silver lining: The administration’s push to support short-term interventions could boost resources for homelessness prevention programs like Tedford’s and maybe even winter warming centers. When funding details are announced, Tedford will be a part of state leaders’ pursuit of any and all funding opportunities that are compatible with our professional values.

The dark cloud: HUD has begun penalizing and even denying funding entirely to any jurisdiction that embraces evidence-based best practices such as the Housing First model of homeless response and gender-inclusive programming. Maine and other states that do not transition to draconian forms of homeless response may be disadvantaged or even fully disqualified from receiving federal funds in the forthcoming funding notice.

As HUD finalizes plans, we are proactively urging our federal delegation to stop the agency from deliberately worsening the homelessness epidemic. And we’re busy locally, too: Tedford and 24 other shelters are pooling funds to continue the lobbying effort in Augusta that yielded an important short-term funding win earlier this year. We’re also participating in legislative advocacy to combat housing discrimination, improve the function of General Assistance, and bolster affordable housing preservation and construction.

Of course, we need your help. Ask Sen. Susan Collins, Sen. Angus King and Rep. Chellie Pingree to protect housing funds. March with us this weekend on Saturday, Oct. 11, in the Pumpkinfest parade to help raise awareness. On Tuesday, Oct. 28, attend our discussion and screening of the film “Building Hope” in Bath. And on Thursday, Nov. 20, experience our new shelters for yourself at the ribbon-cutting. Even amid high-level divestment from our nation’s shared wellbeing, a local movement of neighbors like you is swimming upstream to build a stronger safety net in the towns we love. Thanks, and see you soon.

Andrew Lardie is executive director of Tedford Housing.