If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence and would like to talk with an advocate, call 866-834-4357, TTY 1-800-437-1220. This free, confidential service is available 24/7 and is accessible from anywhere in Maine.
Victims of domestic abuse sometimes urgently need to escape the place where they’re living, but Maine’s housing crisis has made it harder for them — and the organizations that support them — to find shelter.
That’s been the case for New Hope Midcoast, an organization that helps victims of domestic violence across Sagadahoc, Lincoln, Knox and Waldo counties.
The midcoast has been particularly affected by the housing crisis that has reduced the availability of affordable housing and driven up rent and property costs across the state and nation.
New Hope Midcoast provides a variety of services to people affected by domestic abuse, dating violence and stalking, including legal advocacy, an all-hours helpline and, when possible, housing. The organization provides more than 3,000 nights of emergency shelter and 11,300 nights of long-term housing for dozens of clients each year.
But calls to the organization have more than doubled since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Rebakah Paredes, New Hope’s executive director.
Now, the organization has used up all of the funding from two different grants that it relies on to provide housing for its clients, which has made it hard to take on new ones, according to Hannah Harter-Ives, the residential services director
“I would love to advertise this as, ‘Please, call us, we can offer you this help,’ but that particular program is challenging because it is somewhat at capacity,” Harter-Ives said.
She added that MaineHousing has frozen the availability of Section 8 housing vouchers. But, New Hope still manages to offer emergency shelter by partnering with hotels and motels. Harter-Ives also said that New Hope will work with its clients and always try to find a safe place for them to stay, whether that be with trusted friends or other services.
On Thursday evening, New Hope will be showing an 11-minute film at the Strand Theatre in Rockland that showcases the stories of two survivors of domestic abuse and the resources it provides. The purpose of the film, said Joan LeMole, New Hope’s development director, is to promote its services, show the importance of community teamwork and increase awareness of domestic abuse.
“I think a lot of people think that if it’s not occurring in their house, it’s not occurring,” LeMole said. “It’s a very complex issue, so we wanted people to come away with knowing that and feeling like they could do something. That they could take a piece of this, if they wish to, and help their neighbors, their colleagues, their friends.”
New Hope works with Homeworthy, a homeless services organization based in Rockland, to connect clients with stable housing. Molly Feeney, Homeworthy’s executive director, said its family shelter has many clients who come from domestic abuse situations.
Feeney noted that single-income earners, especially those with children, are sometimes stuck because they don’t qualify for affordable housing but also don’t earn enough for market-rate housing.
“We have this expanding black hole in our rental community,” Feeney said.
This was the case for Karina, one of the survivors featured in New Hope’s film. She was a teacher with two children, but didn’t have enough income to support herself and her children and found herself homeless after a divorce. The man who became her abuser connected her with an apartment, then offered for her to move in with him, where he began his abuse.
“A fundamental thread in my story was housing and stability,” Karina said in the film. “New Hope took that question out of it and were able to, through their housing program, provide my children and I with safe and stable housing.”
One way Homeworthy and other organizations are looking to help with this is the Firefly Fields subdivision in Rockland, which has 10 rental units and three Habitat for Humanity homes. Construction will be completed at the end of this month, Feeney said, and Homeworthy is reviewing applications for the rentals now.
The rentals are available for those earning up to 60 percent of the area-median income, including those with housing vouchers, and for those earning 60 to 80 percent of the area median income without housing vouchers. This is a way to bridge that gap between affordable housing and market rate housing, Feeney said.
New Hope’s film, “Creating Communities of Compassion,” will be shown at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Strand Theatre in Rockland. A panel discussion will take place after the showing.
