A Maine Democratic lawmaker has introduced a bill that would launch a two-year, state-funded pilot program to provide inmates recently released from the state’s prisons with paid transitional housing for six months.

LD 244 or “An Act to Provide Safe, Short-term Housing to Indigent Individuals Recently Released from Correctional Facilities,” is sponsored by State Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Cumberland), former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives.

The bill, which had a public hearing before the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee on Monday, is co-sponsored by Rep. Tavis Hasenfus (D-Readfield) and Sen. Anne Beebe-Center (D-Knox), who are the two co-chairs of the committee.

As originally proposed in Sen. Talbot Ross’ bill, the Maine Department of Corrections (Maine DOC) would collaborate with the Maine State Housing Authority to administer a “transitional housing” program for the first two months after an indigent inmate — referred to in the bill as a “client” of the DOC — is released from a correctional facility in Maine.

However, when introducing her bill at Monday’s public hearing, Sen. Talbot Ross offered an expanded version of the bill that would remove the “indigent” requirement from the program, and would extend the state-funded transitional housing period from two to six months.

“At the heart of this, this is a bill about transitional housing relief,” Talbot Ross said. “Research and real world experience shows us that stable housing is the most critical factor in successful reentry after incarceration.”

“Without it, people leaving correctional facilities are far more likely to experience homelessness, struggle to find employment, and cycle back into the criminal justice system,” she said.

“If we want people to succeed after release, we need to ensure they have the basic security of a place to live,” she added.

The two-year pilot program would provide 10 recently released inmates with $1,000 per month in rental assistance from the fund to seek housing with a private landlord for a period of six months — meaning the program, if passed, would cost about $240,000 and house a total of 40 recently released individuals over the two year pilot.

The transitional housing would be paid for by a fund administered by the Maine DOC, that would receive money from “appropriations, allocations, donations, grants and other public and private funding sources,” the bill states.

The housing would be required to be maintained in a “safe, sanitary manner” and meet all state and local building, fire and life safety codes.

The transitional housing would also be required to have adequate bedrooms, living space, dining and kitchen facilities for the number of residents in a given unit or building, as well as requiring that “[a]dequate provisions have been made for a former client convicted of a sex offense,” who under state law have certain restrictions on where they can reside.

Criteria for a recently released inmate’s eligibility for the program, such as finding or maintaining employment or other requirements, would be determined by the Maine DOC, Talbot Ross said.

The Maine DOC currently operates two transitional housing residence for released male inmates, the Leading the Way Transitional Living Residence in Bangor, and Waypoint in Auburn for women, which both provide up to six months of rent free housing.

Director of Government Affairs and spokesperson of the Maine DOC Samuel Prawer testified at the Monday public hearing neither for nor against Sen. Talbot Ross’ bill.

“Our department is very supportive of what this bill is trying to accomplish,” Prawer said. “The ability to secure housing is one of the key factors to ensuring success upon reentry.”

Prawer said that the two transitional housing programs the department currently operates requires that residents work on a plan to find and maintain employment, and to set aside 25 percent of their income to cover housing costs upon leaving the program.

However, Prawer said that Maine DOC cannot support the bill as funding for the program would fall outside of Gov. Janet Mills’ proposed budget.