BANGOR, Maine — More than 100 unhoused people are living in homeless encampments throughout Bangor, according to a homeless response worker with the community organization Community Health and Counseling Services (CHCS).
Outreach workers with the program say they are trying to connect those people experiencing homelessness to housing every day, but that process comes with some challenges.
"I hear all the time a lot of these folks are not interested in being housed. I don't think that's true," Jen Weatherbee, a CHCS homeless response worker, said.
CHCS has different types of vouchers for unhoused people looking for apartment units. In order to get one of them, outreach workers need to do some paperwork to verify income and determine how long that person has been unhoused.
One of the biggest challenges in finding a house for a person experiencing homelessness happens after they get a housing voucher, according to Weatherbee.
"We just need more housing resources and housing stock," she said.
Once someone gets a housing voucher, they have 120 days to find an apartment, but the limited availability makes it hard.
"There are certainly many instances where they have to keep reapplying for the voucher because they're not able to find an apartment in that amount of time," Weatherbee said.
That length of time for the voucher is determined at the state level, according to a CHCS executive director.
Kimberly Damon, an unhoused woman in Bangor, has been unhoused for more than one year.
"It's my first time actually dealing with something like this, so it's a bit stressful," Damon said.
She was evicted from her apartment in Brewer and has since been trying to get by with community help.
Every night, Damon stays at an overnight warming center at the Mansion Church. This is the fourth winter Terry Dinkins, the pastor at the Mansion Church, has opened its doors to serve as a warming center.
"I just think it's important for us to have a place for them to come and be warm and safe," Dinkins said.
The Mansion Church shelters about 25 people every night and is open from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. The shelter serves dinner and breakfast, and also offers showering and laundry services.
It's something Damon said she's fortunate for.
"There are times when it [being unhoused] does get emotional," Damon said. "Cause you're just not used to the environment or how it is."
However, she said she gets by with the community's help and by putting on a brave face, saying she tries to "make the best of it and stay positive."