LEWISTON — Hope Haven Gospel Mission, which runs the largest homeless shelter in Lewiston-Auburn, has lost state and federal funding — about 20 percent of its overall budget — after it submitted an incomplete application weeks past the deadline.

The head of the shelter, which serves hundreds of people, doesn’t want to talk about it.

It’s unclear how much money Hope Haven Gospel Mission would have gotten for 2016. It has received between $76,500 and $108,400 each year since 2006. During 2015, it received at least $96,000. However, the Maine State Housing Authority, which hands out the funding, said totals are not yet complete for the year.

Hope Haven’s director, Pastor John Robbins, said he didn’t know the application was incomplete, but he refused to otherwise talk about Hope Haven’s public funding or to comment on the current situation.

“I’d prefer not to discuss the state funding issue past, present or future,” he said.

Asked why, Robbins said, “Because I’d prefer not to discuss it.”

The sudden drop in public funding has concerned advocates and others who help homeless people in the area. They worry about the shelter’s future, especially because it is the largest shelter in the area and one of the few that isn’t limited to serving specific groups of people, such as veterans or teenagers. 

“We’ll have to see what he’s going to do,” said Janice Lara-Hewey, chairwoman of the Lewiston/Auburn Alliance for Services to the Homeless. “There’s been some challenges and, I don’t know, he doesn’t really talk to people to explain what his plans are.” She is program director for Catholic Charities’ PATH program, which serves people who are homeless and dealing with mental illness or substance abuse. 

Although he declined to talk about public funding, Robbins said Hope Haven has no plans to change or to cut beds. 

Hope Haven began in 1982 as a shelter and soup kitchen. Today, the faith-based nonprofit fills a century-old, five-story building on Lincoln Street, where it runs a clothes closet, food pantry and 30-bed homeless shelter for men and women. Hope Haven’s budget is less than $500,000 a year, Robbins said. 

He did not know how much the shelter costs to run.

“That’s my accountant, the organization’s accountant, who takes care of all of that. I don’t worry about that part of it,” he said.

Hope Haven relies heavily on donations, which have increased in recent years. Up to 20 percent of its overall budget has come from state and federal funding passed through the Maine State Housing Authority.  

The Maine State Housing Authority changed the way it handled homeless shelter funding for 2016. In the past, funded organizations had only to fill out renewal forms, which led to the same shelters receiving funding year after year. The housing authority made the process more competitive for 2016, requiring all shelters to apply anew and meet certain guidelines, including offering services that help homeless clients secure permanent housing.

Maine State Housing Authority spokeswoman Deborah Turcotte said the change was widely discussed and highly publicized among shelters. 

“This was an exhaustive process,” Turcotte said. “Everyone was notified: shelters, not-for-profits, the people who supplied services. Everyone. We had so many meetings and a public hearing before our board. We got a lot of stakeholder feedback on it. People were on board.”

The application deadline was Nov. 14. Turcotte said 40 to 45 organizations applied. 

Hope Haven wasn’t among them.

When it realized Hope Haven hadn’t turned in its application, the housing authority “reached out to them as a courtesy,” Turcotte said. Hope Haven submitted its application sometime around mid-December, three to four weeks past deadline. It was the only one to apply late.

“Eventually, we got an application, but it was incomplete and it did not meet the threshold guidelines,” Turcotte said.

Hope Haven wasn’t funded.

Hope Haven’s executive board president could not be reached for comment. Its vice president and secretary referred funding questions to Robbins.

Board secretary Andrew Powell said the board left public funding up to Robbins’ discretion several years ago. Vice President Ron Meldrum said Hope Haven has long had the goal of operating without public money. 

“If we’re right there or not, I’m not sure,” Meldrum said. “The advantage is there would be a lot less strings attached. Right now the public funding, especially through (the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, passed though the Maine State Housing Authority) has a lot of strings attached to it. It becomes more restrictive each year. John could provide you with precise examples.”

Robbins declined to answer any questions having to do with Hope Haven and public funding.

Turcotte said funding requirements include participating in local planning efforts to end and prevent homelessness, reporting client data, complying with federal housing quality standards and meeting space, food, sanitation and nondiscrimination guidelines, among others.

St. Martin de Porres Residence, another faith-based homeless shelter in Lewiston, has declined public funding for years.

Rumors have circulated for a few weeks about Hope Haven’s sudden lack of public funding. Some advocates are concerned that less funding will mean fewer beds or other changes in services.

“I don’t think they’re going to be able to make it up anywhere else that I know of,” said Jerry DeWitt, who often works with homeless veterans.

Many advocates say Lewiston-Auburn already has too few shelter beds for the homeless people they know about and they believe there are many more homeless people who are unknown.

While last year’s Point In Time Survey showed 54 people were homeless in Androscoggin County — a fraction of the more than 1,100 people homeless statewide — they believe a significant number of people are never counted because they’re staying in a shelter that doesn’t participate in the survey, “couch surfing” among friends or sleeping in their cars or camping in the woods when weather permits.

“When a family comes to you and they have three small children and they’re bouncing, literally, either sleeping in cars or sleeping with this friend and they spend their entire day thinking about where they’re going to sleep tonight, do I think that’s homeless? Yes, I do,” said Christine Hufnagel, director of family services for Community Concepts. “If they have a roof and they find a friend to sleep on their couch, does the state consider that homeless? No, they don’t. So it looks like they don’t exist, but they do.”

Although Robbins has declined publicly to answer questions about Hope Haven’s future without public funding, members of the Maine Military Community Network — a community group that helps veterans and their families — said Robbins agreed Friday to attend a Jan. 27 group meeting to talk about the shelter and its policies. 

Although Hope Haven will not get public money for 2016, Turcotte said the nonprofit can apply later this year for funding in 2017.

Asked earlier this week whether Hope Haven had enough funding, Robbins said,    “Well, we’re not rolling in money. I don’t know too many nonprofits that are.”

“We can always do more with more,” he said.

ltice@sunjournal.com

Volunteers are needed to help with the Point In Time survey of Maine’s homeless population Jan. 27, 28 and 29.  For more information, call Jerry DeWitt at 783-4663, ext. 228 or email jdewitt@tcmhs.org.

St. Martin de Porres to expand

LEWISTON — St. Martin de Porres Residence, a 10-bed, faith-based homeless shelter, will expand to a second location. 

The shelter’s board on Thursday approved a plan that calls for St. Martin de Porres to buy a second building and create a new 10-bed women’s shelter. Currently, St. Martin de Porres runs a shelter with six beds for men and four for women on Bartlett Street in Lewiston. After expansion, men and women will stay in separate locations. 

“We feel that there is a need for a women’s shelter. We’re getting quite a few calls and there are times when we were full here because we only have four beds (reserved for women). We had to turn away,” said founder and director Irenee Richard.

The new women’s shelter will operate under the same guidelines and philosophy as the current shelter.

“We’re there to help, not to enable,” Richard said.

St. Martin de Porres will start negotiations to buy a new building. It will also have to raise the money for the expansion.

“It’s a leap of faith right now, as this house was,” Richard said.

If negotiations go well and a building is purchased soon, Richard said the new shelter could be open in six months.

ltice@sunjournal.com