Maine Builds New Rent-Free Apartments for Migrants Paid by State’s Taxpayers

Maine’s taxpayers are footing the bill for new apartments built specifically for newly arrived border crossers and illegal aliens who will have at least two years’ worth of rent paid for.

This week, Maine officials in Brunswick unveiled new apartments that will go to border crossers and illegal aliens who will have their rent paid for at least two years, News Center Maine reports:

On Monday, dozens of people gathered at Brunswick Landing to celebrate 60 new apartment units going up in five buildings. Twenty-four of them are already complete. These units are designed to house asylum seekers, as they wait to receive work permits. That process can often take a while, since asylum seekers can’t even file for a permit until at least six months after filing their initial asylum applications. [Emphasis added]

This program is happening through the Maine State Housing Authority. MaineHousing will essentially pay the rent for these asylum seekers for up to two years. After that, they will be converted to a mix of market-rate and affordable housing, unless the state says the program needs to be extended. [Emphasis added]

Maine’s taxpayers will be footing the bill as the millions in funding for the new migrant apartments and rental assistance were allocated in the state budget.

The National Desk reports:

The state budgeted nearly $3.5 million to provide 60 migrant families in Brunswick with two years of rent. Maine expects the immigrants to “gain the means” to pay housing costs through state “support” and “guidance.”
[Emphasis added]

The state is also supplying $100,000 to dozens of Brunswick migrants for a year’s worth of asylum application and work authorization assistance. The legal support seeks to ensure immigrants receive work approval “as soon as possible” so they can “provide for themselves,” reduce pressure on public programs and help local economies by joining the workforce. [Emphasis added]

…

The Brunswick monies are part of a $55 million Emergency Housing Relief Fund, which issues immigrants permanent, transitional and emergency housing. [Emphasis added]

Last year, Maine officials found that about 4,200 residents across the state remain homeless, including more than 1,000 who have been homeless for a long period of time. The situation has been exacerbated by sky-high housing prices where the average single-family home in Maine now sells for a median price of more than $350,000.

Meanwhile, housing demand in Maine has grown tremendously, which in return has helped drive up home prices — partially due to mass immigration.

Maine’s foreign-born population, for instance, has shot up nearly 53 percent from 2000 to 2021, with more than 20,000 immigrants having been added to the relatively small state of fewer than 1.4 million residents.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.