There’s frustration in Portland over a move by the state legislature to possibly reduce funding for homeless housing assistance in communities.

Republican lawmakers point to Portland as the problem for consuming almost all of the homeless housing money in the state.

Mayor Mark Dion says the city is bound by law to accept homeless people seeking to relocate in Portland.

“If I’m from Buxton or if I’m from Lewiston, ‘I walk in and say, I intend to live in Portland’,” said Dion. “We have no choice. Remove the mandate if you don’t want Portland to eat up all the dollars. Remove the mandate so we don’t have to deal with outside populations.”

Some lawmakers also say the assistance has spiraled out of control after originally being designed to be a last-resort safety net program

Dion says it’s the legislature that established rules leading to an expansion of housing assistance.

“They’re the ones to put forward the idea that refugees and asylees (asylum seekers) would be incorporated as eligible under general assistance,” Dion said. “That wasn’t our decision. That was an Augusta decision, and now we’re being held up as bad boy for meeting that demand.”

State lawmakers are considering whether to follow Democratic Governor Janet Mills proposal to limit homeless housing assistance for communities to three months per year from the current year-round coverage.

Dion also says homeless people tend to congregate in Portland because the city has by far the most services set up in the state to address homeless needs.

“They come here because there’s a sense that they’ll be taken care of,” said Dion. “I mean, we have beds. Private nonprofits are providing food. There’s a chance they have moments of clarity where they know they have a better chance of meeting their addiction challenge in Portland than they would in Winthrop…I mean, no good deed goes on politically unpunished, you know.”