PORTLAND, Maine — Since nearly 300 asylum seekers were bussed out of Portland over the summer, Martha Stein said the demand for housing has not slowed down at the Hope House, a transitional housing facility in Portland for asylum seekers.
"We wish we had a place for everyone, but we do the best we can," Stein said.
Stein estimates that while her organization housed 250 asylum seekers in Portland this year, hundreds remain homeless in the city as the winter approaches.
"We are packed with people, year after year," Stein said.
The City of Portland is working to open a new shelter for asylum seekers on Nov. 29. The facility will have 180 beds and be strictly for single asylum seekers. The city said there are around 125 asylum seekers currently staying at the Homeless Services Center and hopes this new asylum seeker shelter will open up more bed space for the general homeless population to use in the city.
"Hopefully moving the asylum seekers into the asylum seeker shelter will get more people outside to inside, it's a really good step, but a lot more work needs to be done," Stein said.
The facility is opening with the help of a $4.5 million grant from MaineHousing and will be staffed by the city, with an eventual takeover by the Maine Immigrants' Rights Coalition.
For those working in homeless services, the asylum seeker shelter helps their efforts.
"I'm happy for the people that get to use those beds ... I believe they will be filled," Dana Staling said.
The city said, in combination with the 50 emergency beds opening at the HSC, 170 beds will be available at the HSC.
Staling said despite the barriers such as pets and drug addiction, the shelter beds should be filled. She added that there will still be a number of homeless people still on the streets this winter.
"With winter that is more dangerous with the cold and freezing nights to come ... we all have to realize as a community there will still be people outside," Staling said.