Brunswick housing for asylum seekers sparks backlash over $3.5 million cost

MaineHousing is paying the rent on 60 apartments at Brunswick Landing, and the price tag has climbed to nearly $3.5 million for two years, turning a Brunswick housing project for asylum seekers into a sharp test of taxpayer priorities. The units sit on Coral Sea Street at the former naval air station, where Developers Collaborative built five buildings for asylum-seeking families and individuals who were unhoused.

The state had set aside roughly $2 million for the project during planning in June 2023, but later reporting showed the cost rising to nearly $3.5 million to cover rent for 60 migrant families for two years. The first building was expected to be ready in August 2023, with all five buildings finished by November, and asylum-seeking families began moving in during December 2023. By Jan. 9, 2024, 24 units were complete and the waitlist had been capped at 250 applicants.

Supporters have said the Brunswick apartments were needed because many asylum seekers could not work right away. Federal law requires asylum applicants to wait at least six months before becoming eligible for work authorization, and reporting said many of the new residents had already spent a year or more in shelters or hotels. Once tenants are able to work, they are expected to pay 30% of their income toward rent. Advocates also argued the Brunswick project would help free up emergency shelter space elsewhere, including in Portland.

That rationale has done little to quiet local frustration. In Brunswick, the project is visible from Route 24, the road many people use to reach Harpswell, and neighbors have pointed to items left on the ground through the winter as a sign of a project that feels remote from the housing pressure facing working families, recent graduates and others trying to stay in Sagadahoc County and nearby towns. The broader fight has folded into a wider debate over how much the state should spend on shelters, rental aid and subsidized housing, and who should benefit first.

By February 2024, Maine Republican lawmakers were criticizing the state’s Emergency Housing Relief Fund, saying the Legislature had approved $55 million over two years for housing programs in places including Bangor, Brunswick and South Portland. Gov. Janet Mills’ proposed March 2024 budget added $16 million more to the fund, including an estimated $3.5 million to extend a separate asylum-seeker housing program in Saco. The Brunswick project, built by Developers Collaborative, has become one more flashpoint in a statewide effort to manage homelessness, asylum arrivals and the cost of emergency housing.