BANGOR, Maine — The nonprofit Penquis Community Action Program will begin renovating Pine Tree Inn this month, and the inn will be repurposed as permanent affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness in the Greater Bangor area.
The inn will be renamed Theresa's Place, and Penquis representatives said they hope to have the housing available by fall.
Penquis Housing Development Department Operations Manager Peter Malia said the organization purchased the inn and received nearly five million dollars in funding to renovate all 41 units. Much of the funding came from the state's emergency housing relief fund.
"The heart of housing first is to give them permanently affordable housing," Malia said. "A lot of resources to provide affordable housing can sometimes be inaccessible to individuals experiencing homelessness, whereas this building is going to be directly designed for those individuals."
Malia said Penquis will update the units, installing stove tops and other features that will make the living spaces more accessible for permanent use.
Community Health and Counseling Services (CHCS) will also provide on-site support and case management for people living at Theresa's Place.
"That's 40 people who are going to be able to transition from being literally homeless into a housing scenario," Dale Hamilton, the CHCS executive director, said. "Providing housing is the first step in helping people to be successful and maintaining that is also critically important."
Hamilton said he believes providing on-site support will help caseworkers meet people where they are.
The housing sits right across the street from Bangor's biggest encampment, commonly known as Camp Hope.
"We believe that it's about 45 individuals that actually reside there overnight," Bangor City Manager Debbie Laurie said. "That number varies."
For Laurie, the new housing serves as an opportunity for the city to work with Penquis to prioritize housing for people living in the encampment, explaining that the city's goal has always been to make sure that anyone who is outside has access to housing.
"But also, the secondary goal to this is to ensure the safety of everyone. not just those who are adjacent to the encampment but those within the encampment," she said.
Laurie added that there are more people who don't live in the encampment who may also be critically unhoused, adding that the city is constantly looking for property owners willing to rent to those individuals. Laurie added she hopes more property owners willing to rent to people with unique circumstances will connect with the city in their efforts to resolve issues of homelessness in the community.
Representatives with Penquis said that Theresa's Place will not be dry housing, but often, their lease terms specify that the use of illegal drugs is prohibited.