Maine City Considers Housing Homeless And Illegals In Private Homes And Churches

The city of Westbrook in Maine is considering a new law that seeks to house illegal aliens and homeless in private residential homes, along with church buildings and community centers. The proposal would not force homeowners or churches to house these people but would give them the option to become official homeless shelters.

Reported by The Maine Wire, the proposal comes after a statement by Harison Deah, the director of general assistance, who runs the city’s welfare program, said that “90 to 95 percent” of welfare recipients are migrants – or “New Mainers,” as they were referred to as.

During that initial April 9th city council meeting, Deah added that ‘his office has to teach the immigrants living in apartments with the help of taxpayer-funded general assistance how to do basic things to avoid angering tenants and neighbors, such as how to use a thermostat,’ the Maine Wire reported. He claims the average client is on general assistance for a year and a half to two years.

Jennie Franceschi, Westbrook Director of Planning and Code Enforcement, said in a comment: “What we can afford in this ordinance are shelters in single family homes which are deemed to be emergency shelter families. A church that has a room that they utilize for the purposes of baked bean suppers or educational or social needs could then take that room and make it into a shelter if the needs of the community necessitated it.”

Franceschi would later tell Newsweek in a statement that this law would allow ‘single- or two-family homes to be licensed as emergency shelters. It also would allow a private civic organization like a church to license a community room within the building as an emergency shelter space.’

We are unsure where the conclusion was drawn that Westbrook residents who are GA clients are the driver of the emergency shelter ordinance. In addition, it is harmful to disparage Westbrook residents experiencing need who legally qualify for this mandated state program by questioning their legally protected status in this country…