Maine

The state's housing authority. Runs rental programs, homeless shelters funding, heating help, and foreclosure counseling, and can point you to help in your county.

Free lawyers and step-by-step guides if you're being evicted or your landlord won't make repairs. Their site has plain-language tenant rights info for every situation.

Food, street outreach, and housing help for people experiencing homelessness, based in Portland with programs reaching across Maine.

Monthly cash assistance for low-income families with children. Apply online at My Maine Connection or call 1-855-797-4357.

• My Maine Connection

Every Maine town must run this emergency program. It can cover rent, heating fuel, medicine, and other basics when you have no other way to pay. Apply at your town or city office — even on weekends for emergencies.

Free help understanding and applying for cash, food, and health programs — and free legal help if you're wrongly denied.

Emergency help with food, heating, and basic needs for people of any faith, statewide.

Maine law requires hospitals to give free care to lower-income patients. This nonprofit HelpLine walks you through applying and fighting medical bills: 1-800-965-7476.

Free legal help if you're being sued or harassed by collectors over medical or other debt.

If you qualify for MaineCare, it can pay medical bills from up to 3 months before you applied, so apply even if the bills already arrived.

Maine's LIHEAP. Helps pay for heating fuel and electricity; apply through your local community action agency or online via MaineHousing.

Emergency fuel delivery or shut-off help if you're about to run out of heat — part of HEAP, handled by the same local agencies.

Free or heavily discounted insulation, heat pumps, and weatherization for income-eligible households, which lowers bills for good.

Monthly money on an EBT card for groceries. Apply online at My Maine Connection or call 1-855-797-4357.

• My Maine Connection

Maine's statewide food bank; use their site to find free food pantries and meal sites in your town.

Healthy food, formula, and nutrition support for pregnant women and children under 5; search "WIC" on the DHHS site or ask 211 for your local WIC clinic.

Maine's Medicaid: free health coverage for low-income adults and families. Apply online or call 1-855-797-4357.

Low-cost health insurance for children whose families earn a bit too much for MaineCare.

Maine's health insurance marketplace; with subsidies, many people pay little or nothing for a plan.

Free helpline that helps you pick coverage, apply, and appeal denials: 1-800-965-7476.

Call or text 1-888-568-1112, 24/7, to reach trained Maine crisis workers who can also send mobile crisis support to you.

Support, information, and connection to mental health services: 1-800-464-5767 (Mon–Fri).

One page with all state helplines, including substance use treatment and problem gambling support.

Maine's child care subsidy: pays part of your child care bill while you work, look for work, or attend school. Apply through the Office of Child and Family Services.

Maine's free referral service to find licensed child care openings near you.

Support, supplies, and a helpline for foster, adoptive, and kinship families (grandparents raising grandchildren included).

Free job search help, training money, and resume support at centers across the state.

File for unemployment benefits online, or call 1-800-593-7660.

Maine's statewide free civil legal aid: evictions, foreclosure, benefits, family safety, and consumer problems.

Free legal help for anyone 60 and older: 1-800-750-5353.

Free legal help with public benefits (TANF, SNAP, MaineCare, General Assistance) denials and cuts.

Maine's main free/low-cost immigration legal aid organization, based in Portland and serving the whole state.