A car doesn’t start. The bus is running late or not at all. Gas prices climb just enough to make a roundtrip drive to Portland feel out of reach. An inspection sticker expires, and fixing what’s needed to pass just isn’t affordable right now.
For the people we work with at Tedford Housing, these everyday disruptions can quickly become barriers to employment, appointments or even securing housing. Stability often depends on something as simple — or, rather, as complicated — as getting from one place to another. Before someone can attend a housing appointment, start a new job, see a doctor or pick up groceries, they have to be able to get there.
Access to transportation is increasingly recognized as a critical factor in health and housing stability. In a state like Maine, that access is shaped by geography: Social services are spread across towns, distances between appointments are long and public transit routes — though helpful — don’t always align with the realities of life for people in emergency shelters or living unsheltered in our community.
Case managers and program support staff at Tedford see these barriers every day. One of our supportive housing tenants in Lewiston recently had their car vandalized. Insurance will cover part of the repair but not all of it. The remaining cost comes out of the already stretched fixed income that pays rent, groceries and other essentials. At the same time, that car is how they get to appointments, carry items from the local food bank and visit their family a few towns over. When it’s out of commission, everything else starts to shift.
A mother and her three school-age children are living in their car in Brunswick while waiting for a unit to become available in our family shelter. For them, the car became the safest place to stay when prior living arrangements fell apart. Some mornings, she’s helping the kids get dressed and pack lunches in the back seat, trying to keep routines like school and bedtime intact. That car isn’t just transportation; it’s where they sleep, store their belongings and hold onto some sense of normalcy. If their vehicle breaks down or gas costs continue to spike, they lose more than a way to get around — they lose the space that currently keeps them together, rested and safe while they await next steps from their case manager.
At Tedford, transportation isn’t our core mission — but it shows up in our work every day. It can be the difference between momentum and setback, between following through on a housing plan and falling behind. Through our Breaking Down Barriers Fund, a flexible pool of client-specific support, we try to meet obstacles as they arise. Each year, we help dozens of people cover the cost of minor but essential needs — fixing brakes or a dead battery, paying for gas to get to a new job, replacing a lost ID or birth certificate, covering the cost of work uniforms, phone cards, diapers or back-to-school supplies. While the fund supports a range of urgent needs, transportation consistently emerges as one of the most common and impactful barriers our neighbors face.
Each year, requests for help outpace the resources we have. When the Breaking Down Barriers Fund runs out, we have to have difficult conversations with guests, tenants and clients. Saying “no” is hard, especially when the barrier is so tangible, and the solution feels so close: a few hundred dollars for a repair, a tank of gas to get to work or money for a taxi ride across town. These are small interventions, but without them, even the most carefully built housing plan can stall.
The good news is that the community can help keep that momentum going. Donations to the Breaking Down Barriers Fund allow us to say “yes” more often, covering urgent needs and helping neighbors focus on their housing stability rather than the next obstacle. Gifts of gas cards can give families on tight budgets the flexibility to get back on their feet. Local mechanics and garages can provide discounted or donated labor, keeping vehicles safe and reliable. This is what community looks like in action: neighbors helping neighbors, local businesses stepping in and everyone recognizing that getting someone there — to work, to appointments, to housing — is often just as important as the destination itself.
Katrina Webster is the development and communications associate at Tedford Housing.