For several years now, we've been working to replace the Oxford Street Shelter, and we are finally on the cusp of building a new Homeless Services Center at 638-654 Riverside Street that will do just that. The new, state-of-the art, 208-bed facility will be open 24/7 and it will finally provide those in our community experiencing homelessness the services they need in a spacious, welcoming, comfortable, secure, and dignified setting. This is a desperately needed facility with great community support.

National experts have been consulted and a great deal of community input has been received and incorporated. Read on to learn about our journey to this point, and why this service model is the right move for Portland. ​

Tonight at HHS & PS I expect we'll vote on a resolution that provides guidance to staff around the CIty's shelter policies. I'll post the resolution including that guidance once it's approved, but in the meantime, I wanted to let folks know where we are in our process to replace the aging and inadequate Oxford Street Shelter. I created the pdf below to help clarify the process to date, illustrate the process yet to come, and give people some basic information about the requirements the shelter will have to meet. Take a look!

At this point I'm sure many of you are aware that unprecedented numbers of people seeking asylum in the United States are arriving in Portland, Maine. I know there are disagreements about the role Portland should play in issues that ultimately require state and federal assistance and that people have different perspectives with regard to how the City should handle its Community Support Fund. We will be discussing those issues at our City Council meeting on Monday, June 17th, and public comment will be taken at that time. 

Right now, however, we - as a city, a region, and a state - need to find a way to deal with the crisis at hand. 

To that end the City of Portland is working with community partners, the American Red Cross, and the State Center for Disease Control & Prevention to operate a temporary emergency shelter at the Portland Expo. That facility opened on Wednesday, June 12th at 5pm. 

Numerous people and groups have reached out to learn how they can help. If you are interested in volunteering or making donations to assist in this effort, here are some things you can do.
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• To volunteer to help at the Expo, please visit this page on the United Way website. And please be patient. As shelter security is of the utmost importance, volunteers need to be screened before they can be admitted to work with families and children residing at the shelter. Please do not show up at the Expo without receiving a volunteer assignment. You will be turned away. 
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• The most pressing need at this time is still for financial resources. To donate directly to the City to cover shelter/housing needs and basic necessities, visit this site where you'll find an online donation form and information about where to send or drop off checks. You can also donate by texting the word EXPO to 91999 and following the prompts. All funds received through any of these channels will go directly toward supporting asylum seekers in our community.
  
  
• If you are a social service agency or business that is looking to be involved in the city's coordination of resources, email Mo Puia.
  
  
• Physical donations are not being accepted at the Expo at this time. Please be patient. We will continue to need help beyond this week, and we need those of you who wish to donate items to be on standby for now. As soon as it becomes clear which items we need assistance obtaining, the city will make a list available and instruct people where to bring those items. 

Thanks to all who have already reached out to learn how they can help!

One of the things I've always loved about Portland is how willing people are to get engaged with issues that are important to them. We are a tremendous community, folks. I'm very proud to call this City home. 

Over the last two-and-a-half years we've been discussing homelessness in Portland front and center and in great detail at the HHS & PS Committee. We've  had many difficult conversations to date, and I expect we have many more ahead. 

That's why as we near a decision on the site selection for the new Homeless Services Center, I want to take a moment to celebrate some of the wonderful partnerships that have grown out of this process. Shining a light on the challenges of our current system has inspired multiple new community collaborations. These partnerships will help us, as a community, reach the goals set by the Council back in 2011 when it created a task force to develop a strategic plan to prevent and end homelessness in Portland, Maine. I'm pleased and proud that this process has helped move us closer to that aim. 

After our most recent HHS & PS committee meeting on March 26th, I spoke with a resident who wanted to know how we’d gotten from a list of nearly 700 parcels to the 3 sites we are currently considering as potential locations for the city’s new Homeless Services Center. In response to her question, I decided to create a “Part Two” to my Micro-Timeline of the Oxford Street Shelter replacement process.

For Micro-Timeline: Part Deux, see below. Micro-Timeline: Part One exists here, and you can see both of them together, in one place, here. Happy reading.

As you are likely aware, the HHS & PS Committee is currently working through a list of potential sites for the city's new Homeless Services Center. This facility will replace the city's current facility for single adults experiencing homelessness, the Oxford Street Shelter, and it will likely have something in the neighborhood of 150 beds. 

We're working hard to vet all of the potential locations in the city for this establishment and to choose the best possible location. To find out where we are in our process and how it is likely to proceed from here, read on. 

Okay, so that's not exactly how John Lennon put it (and apparently Lennon wasn't even the one who first said it). But life did happen at our Health & Human Services and Public Safety committee meeting on Tuesday night, and it has altered our course as we seek to select a site for the new Homeless Services Center.