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South Portland to Spend $1 million+ Helping Migrants Pay Rent, Buy Food — While Recommending Seniors Reverse Mortgage Homes to Pay Taxes

While the mayor of South Portland recently recommended that elderly residents reverse mortgage their homes to handle a growing property tax burden, the City Council approved over $1 million in their fiscal year 2025 (FY25) budget to be spent on assisting migrants in the city pay for housing and buy food.

Those seniors have also taken a back seat to higher priorities from the South Portland City Council, which has, in recent years, written into the city budget that addressing the climate crisis and promoting “equity” are top goals.

South Portland Mayor Misha Pride’s comments — which have since sparked massive backlash on social media — came amid discussion of a proposal to allocate an additional $100,000 to the city’s Senior Property Tax Relief Fund at an August City Council meeting.

“I just sort of throw this out there because I’ve also been thinking a lot about how especially those with fixed incomes can deal with this, it is kind of a last resort measure, but seeing as our property values are so high, seniors may want to consider a reverse mortgage,” Pride said.

“I know it’s an ugly word,” he admitted, “but there are — I’m just saying, I know it’s horrible, but it’s sort of a last resort.”

A reverse mortgage is a type of loan that allows homeowners to borrow against the equity in their home. Over time, it may put their homeownership at risk or leave little equity for senior homeowners to pass on to heirs.

The proposed supplement to the relief fund was aimed at alleviating the strain that rising property taxes, caused largely by the city’s most recent revaluation and a budget increase, have put on local homeowners — particularly seniors living on a fixed income.

The problem is not unique to South Portland, as property taxes are increasing massively all across Maine as the result of increased spending and inflation-driven increases in the nominal dollar value of property.

However, at the same time South Portland residents are feeling squeezed by property tax hikes, the City Council approved a budget of more than $1.8 million for their municipal welfare program that the city specifically states will be going towards “asylum seekers” — noncitizen migrants living in the U.S. who have pending asylum claims.

[RELATED: South Portland Directs $150,000 in State Funds to Help Migrants Currently Staying at Hotel Find Permanent Housing…]

[RELATED: Portland Spends 50 Times More Per Person on Welfare Than Other Maine Cities, Spent 73% of All General Assistance Dollars Since 2019, Records Show…]