VOUCHER LEASE UP CAMPAIGN

Maine State Housing Authority and the area Community Action Programs have extablished a fund (VOUCHER LEASE UP CAMPAIGN) to assist homeless individuals to obtain permanent housing. The goal is to assist 200 households with Section 8 vouchers by December 31, 2006.

For more info contact the following:

Aroostook County Action Program 1-800-432-7881
MaineHousing 1-866-357-4853
Community Concepts 1-800-866-5588
Penquis Community Action 1-888-424-0151
Avesta Housing 1-888-294-3551
Washington-Hancock Community Agency 1-800-828-7544

Food Vouchers

How do you determine what are acceptable items for purchase when issuing a food voucher to a client?"

Minimum Wage increases

Maine's minimum wage to increase to $7 an hour by October 2007. Governor Baldacci stated the two-step increase will make Maine's minimum wage into a ''living wage" for those who struggle with one or more jobs to make ends meet. October 2006 minimum wage will increase from the current $6.50 an hour to $6.75 in , and then by another quarter to $7 a year later. The federal minimum wage is $5.15 an hour, the same as it is in neighboring New Hampshire. All of the rest of New England's states have higher minimums than the federal standard. Connecticut's is $7.40, while Vermont's is $7.25, Rhode Island's $7.10, and Massachusetts $6.75, according to the US Labor Department. Maine's minimum-wage earners received their most recent increase last fall under a bill signed into law two years ago