Nonprofits and group organizations need the state to start coordinating companies for asylum seekers after Maine’s largest metropolis introduced this month that it might now not assure housing.
The 79 organizations which signed the letter, dated Friday, all signed {that a} “coordinated, statewide effort is critical to fulfill the second.”
The letter was addressed to Governor Janet Mills, Portland Mayor Kate Snyder, members of the congressional delegation, and others.
The Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition has skilled “a disaster on high of a disaster” since Portland’s Might 5 announcement, Mufalo Chitam, govt director, advised the Portland Press Herald.
Chitam mentioned it is time to “normalize” the response to the asylum seekers as an alternative of responding as if it is a disaster.
The governor is reviewing the letter and contemplating suggestions, Lindsay Crete, a spokesperson for Mills, mentioned in an e-mail.
The overwhelming majority of 343 households, or 1,186 people, housed at Portland’s household shelter and motels are asylum seekers from African nations. One other 62 households have arrived because the metropolis’s announcement on Might 5.
There are a further 545 homeless people town was housing as of final week, officers mentioned.