PORTLAND, Maine — A total of 191 asylum seekers or 60 families will be moved to two hotels after the Portland Expo closes.
The expo, which has been operating as a shelter since April, is set to close Wednesday. Some of the asylum seekers living there will go to a hotel in Freeport that the city has a contract with, according to Portland's Director of Health and Human Services Kristen Dow.
The rest will go to a hotel somewhere outside Cumberland County on a more short-term basis.
"It actually might not be a contract," Dow told NEWS CENTER Maine. "It might be a night-to-night basis."
The city said both hotels are a temporary solution until permanent housing can be found.
"We are doing this because we are doing things like Project Home and other units that are becoming available in Sept., Nov., and we'll be able to transition individuals there," Dow told city councilors during a meeting Monday night.
The cost of using hotels was a question brought up by councilors at the meeting. Dow said they will be billing general assistance for the city's portion of the cost, which is more than $500,000.
As for what the asylum seekers can expect in the coming days, Dow said the city is working to line up buses to take them from the expo to their hotels on Wednesday.