PORTLAND, Maine — Portland City Council has voted 8-1 Monday in favor of a new asylum seeker shelter plan.
The City of Portland has secured a new location to open an emergency shelter specifically for asylum seekers, according to a memorandum issued by the city on Friday.
Kevin Bunker, the developer for the project, said he and the city have secured a location on Riverside Parkway near the city's golf course. It will include wraparound services for about 180 people seeking asylum. According to the memorandum, the project will be funded by a $4,596,160 grant from the Maine State Housing Authority to DC Blueberry LLC and the Center for Regional Prosperity.
The project was awaiting approval from councilors before moving forward. With Monday's vote, it can now advance.
Bunker said City of Portland employees will staff it at first, but ultimately the nonprofit the Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition will take over services once it gets staffed up. Bunker said that process should take about 18 months.
Bunker was also involved the Blueberry Road location, which ultimately fell through in May of this year.
"Anyone seeing what's going on and hearing the struggles the city has with all the folks that are coming in, kind of seeing some of their stories, anybody would try to help. And I just happened to be in a position where I'm able to have some agency on it, so I just started digging," Bunker said. "I think of these buildings as social infrastructure. That's a term I've been using more and more lately, just like you need roads and bridges."
Gov. Janet Mills' chief of staff wrote a letter to Portland staff on Friday, saying the Governor supports this shelter and encourages the council to endorse the project. A city spokesperson said they are excited to have the new option and that they need extra space to take care of the people already here.
Roughly 300 people seeking asylum are staying at the Portland Expo, which is slated to end its services for those people on Aug. 16. At the city's new Homeless Services Center, more than 60 percent of people staying there are asylum seekers.
"Portland has consistently not only said they're a welcoming city, but when they get behind something like the HSC and essentially fund it, they put their money where their mouth is," Bunker said. "They've certainly extended the welcome hand to asylum seekers consistently. This is just a way of sort of delivering on that."
Bunker said the shelter is set to open in the fall. He said the contract for the space is for three years.