Community Impact | Tedford Almost Home

Who We Are

Tedford Housing, a nonprofit based in Brunswick, Maine, was founded by the Brunswick Area Interfaith Council in 1987. We provide homelessness prevention services, emergency housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness, and permanent supportive housing for previously homeless families and individuals. We also work in coalitions to advocate for policies to solve systemic problems that cause homelessness.

Our primary service area is northern Cumberland, Sagadahoc, and Lincoln counties, an area of 40 towns and 150,000 residents. As the sole provider of emergency housing in the southern midcoast region, we offer not only a roof overhead and food on the table but also intensive case management and assistance with service navigation.

Learn More About Tedford

Our Mission

Tedford Housing empowers people to move from homelessness to home.

The Need is Overwhelming

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Maine more than tripled from 2020 to 2023, according to data published by the Maine State Housing Authority. A majority of households (55%) contending with homelessness have at least one child. Even before the pandemic, Maine’s emergency shelters have fielded many times more requests for emergency shelter than they can accommodate.

Tedford Housing empowers our neighbors with the fewest resources and the greatest  challenges to access services, understand the causes of their housing crisis, and achieve permanent, stable housing.

unique requests for emergency shelter in the last year (147 families & 531 individual adults)

Only

%

of requests could be accommodated, turning away 463 individuals and 139 families, due to space constraints.

The Community Impact of Homelessness

There is a high cost of homelessness to communities. By addressing their basic need for emergency housing, we give our guests the opportunity to gain stable employment, build strong families, and become invested in the community where they live. This reduces the impact on public services such as general assistance, emergency response agencies, schools, the health care system, and law enforcement.

Homelessness is more than a housing crisis. It is a human services crisis, a public health crisis, and an economic crisis. Investing in emergency shelter returns dividends by creating housing stability that will have a significant and lasting impact.