BRADFORD, Maine — As Maine's largest cities grapple with a rise in homelessness, one activist is considering a different approach: building rural housing on undeveloped land.
On Monday night, the Bradford Board of Selectmen agreed to seek counsel on a land-use proposal by Michael Tuller and his organization Bangor Friends of Affordable Housing.
"We're just trying to help people in the way we can, and it takes a community to help each other," Tuller said Tuesday.
Tuller bought 35 acres of land in Bradford near a lumber yard, with the vision of inviting those experiencing homelessness, particularly in Bangor, to a peaceful and secure setting, with an emphasis on drug-free living.
This has attracted Jennifer Fletcher to the effort. She spent four months last year without a place to stay and has become a key part of the effort to make the Bradford project happen.
"I feel peaceful here, I feel serene. You can be yourself and you're not being judged," Fletcher said. "It is a great place for anybody that wants to feel safe, [to] be a community."
But with all these dreams comes a more opaque reality. Tuller hasn't submitted a formal plan for his land to the local government and has only just begun to build a septic system for future structures that are unapproved and vague.
This laissez-faire approach to the project has drawn criticism from members of the Bradford community. Michael Robinson runs a truck repair shop in town. He worries that a community of formerly unhoused people isn't feasible in this rural setting.
"The town hasn’t got the resources to support those people coming into town with no jobs, no way to get anywhere, no money to do anything with," Robinson said.
It's a view that others in town share, despite Tuller's insistence that the people coming to his community in Bradford will be vetted and well-equipped to live in the town.
"The clientele that's going to be coming out here that we're looking at right now are going to be those who already have all coping skills, who can self-sustain," Tuller said.