PORTLAND, Maine — The City of Portland announced Thursday its plans to clear a large homeless encampment under the Casco Bay Bridge along Commercial Street on Dec. 28.
Clearing of the Harbor View Memorial Park and Douglass Street/Dougherty Field encampments was originally scheduled for Dec. 19, but “in order to conduct further outreach to get people into available shelter and provide the City Council with additional information,” the date was pushed out, city spokesperson Jessica Grondin said in a news release.
Notices alerting the encampment residents will be posted at both sites, the release stated.
One hundred and seventy shelter beds have opened up, but the city said there are still 100 beds available at the Homeless Services Center (HSC).
City staff said they are concerned about the health and safety risks the encampment poses. The Maine Department of Transportation also expressed their concern about the proximity of people to the bridge, Grondin said in the release.
As temperatures continue to drop this winter, the city said health and safety risks will continue to increase. Recently, there have been reported tent fires, a fatality due to a tent fire, and an unattended outside death. There have been 12 deaths outside campsites so far in 2023, and calls for service in the Harbor View Memorial Park area have increased with 303 calls—seven resulting in overdoses and one fatality. Last year, there were 59 calls for service in the area and zero overdoses, according to the release.
City staff will continue enforcing all relevant ordinances along city-owned properties, as long as shelter beds remain available, Grondin said. City staff along with outreach workers will tell encampment residents when they have to clear out of the area and offer them shelter beds, alternate housing, and harm reduction services, according to the release.
"We have been working since May to collectively move individuals from tents to shelter. But at no other time during this period have we had the municipal shelter capacity needed to address the great need in our community like we do today," Portland City Manager Danielle West said in the release. "In the past, encampment resolutions occurred because obstructions and the public health and safety issues required dispersion. Now, as we head into winter, we have an even greater public health and safety crisis to address, but we also actually have the shelter capacity to accommodate individuals who have no place else to go. Leaving them outdoors is simply unconscionable."
"I’m thankful to the Manager and her staff for the hard work they’ve been doing to get people into shelter and uphold city ordinances, as well as for the fact that they delayed action to allow more time for outreach work to occur in response to the expressed resolution from the Council," Portland Mayor Mark Dion said in Thursday's release. "However, I do believe that we need to take affirmative steps now to address the adverse public health and safety consequences presented by these encampments to unhoused individuals as well as upon neighbors and businesses who also experience demonstrable harm if these camps are left unchecked."
From Nov. 30 to Dec. 17, 43 unhoused individuals from Harbor View Memorial Park accepted a bed at the HSC. There are currently 142 individuals at the encampment, meaning the bed acceptance rate is just over 30 percent.
Grondin reported that city staff completed 83 surveys at the encampment and of the 83, eight respondents had previously stayed at the HSC. The survey identified the top three reasons individuals turn down beds at the HSC, which include loss of autonomy, transportation barriers, and a fear of losing their belongings.
To address those barriers, the HSC staff has extended the curfew to 11 p.m., secured vans and established regular pick-up times to help relocate individuals to the shelter, and improved education efforts regarding storage resources and capacity, according to the release.
"After three weeks of staff’s intensive engagement, Harbor View occupants’ willingness to accept an HSC shelter bed declined, as shown in the table below. At that time, staff determined that significant and/or additional progress was unlikely using our new outreach strategy, and established an encampment resolution date, allowing for five days’ notice in order to ensure individuals were safe and inside before the weather shifted and to address the significant public health and safety issues present at the encampments," the release stated.
