PORTLAND, Maine — The City of Portland issued a plea to Gov. Janet Mills on Thursday, asking her to consider a proposal to shelter asylum seekers at Unity College in Waldo County or to call in the National Guard for help, according to a letter shared by the city, as the deadline to close the emergency shelter at the Portland Expo looms.
The city opened the Portland Expo as an emergency shelter in April that would serve about 300 people, after the arrival of hundreds of asylum seekers. The city then ceased accepting new enrollments on June 5 to focus on finding more sustainable housing, the letter said, and the plan is slated to end its services as an emergency shelter on Aug. 16.
In the letter, the city said the Expo was opened to support asylum seekers following the exceeded capacity at the city's other shelters and hotel availability.
"Due to a general lack of housing supply, it is unlikely that every family sheltered at the Expo will be successfully transitioned to a housing placement by the time it is decommissioned as an emergency shelter. And so, we ask for your help in order to address any families who have not been housed on/after August 16th," the letter reads, in part.
The city proposes that the governor would support a proposal for immediate transitional housing for asylum seekers at Unity College in Waldo County, but if that plan cannot go through, they ask instead for the governor to call upon the National Guard for assistance in operating an emergency shelter.
"We acknowledge that this is an emergency tool that any governor would be cautious to employ. That said, as we continue our work with the city's encampment crisis response team to address the people we have currently sleeping outdoors, we believe that the unprecedented need facing both asylum seekers and the circumstantially unhoused, coupled with the lack of shelter options, municipal or nonprofit operators, and the likely expiration of the emergency rental assistance (ERA) program constitutes a crisis that requires the prompt use of this emergency tool," the letter reads.
Asylum seekers staying at the Expo protested living conditions earlier this week, some telling NEWS CENTER Maine that they have limited access to food and showers and sleep on makeshift beds.
On June 12, city councilors voted 8-1 in favor of a new asylum seeker shelter plan that would serve about 180 people seeking asylum, but the approved location would not be accepting families, and the city said all asylum seekers at the Expo are families.
"It's an unsatisfying answer we don't have solutions right now," City Manager Danielle West said Wednesday. "So far, we need more help. We consistently ask for that, and we have to keep asking for that, not just here at the Expo but from around the city."
The governor's office responded for comment Friday, saying the letter had been received and was under review.
"We are reviewing the Unity proposal, just as we consider all ideas to address the urgent issue of homelessness, and we appreciate the effort by partners to propose options for housing and shelter. However, any potential application for funding for the Unity proposal, if funding were to become available, would be considered by MaineHousing, rather than the Governor’s Office. In the interim, we will continue to work in partnership with communities and organizations across the state to determine how we can most effectively support the housing needs of all Maine people. Our office does not speculate on the potential use of the National Guard," the governor's office told NEWS CENTER Maine.