PORTLAND, Maine — Portland announced Tuesday it will use a Lewiston Hotel as its second option for asylum seekers that are being moved out of the Portland Expo Wednesday. The first hotel being used is in Freeport.
According to an email from a city spokesperson, Lewiston will serve as a temporary shelter for a few months. There is no contract, and it will be on a night-to-night basis, the city spokesperson said.
The move was months in the making for the city, which solidified the hotels within recent weeks.
"This has been something that we have been working on," Portland HHS Director Kristen Dow said. "We just let them know last week."
The Freeport hotel will be used as temporary housing for up to a year, the city said. Dow said during a city council meeting on Monday they are working with school districts to accommodate the families that are moving in.
The city has long promised to bring people at the Expo into housing, and the hotels are only a temporary solution.
For many staying at the Expo, the conditions were cramped. A June protest had dozens of asylum seekers noting sick people in the Expo, and claiming that food was expired.
During that protest, many said they weren't told by the city where they could go.
For many, the move to a hotel, even while transitionary, is a major step away from the cramped cots of the Expo.
"The challenge is still we have a lot to do, yeah, but this is a good step," Titi de Baccarat said. Baccarat is a refugee from Gabon, who moved to Maine in 2015. He said there was no asylum shelter then, and many had to stay at the now-closed Oxford Street shelter.
"It was very tough. It was rough," Baccarat said.
But Baccarat, who is now an artist in Portland, said he is using his experience to help families navigate their new life now.
"They came here to live their life and find a home. They deserve so and just to be part of the American society," Baccarat said.
When asked what specific hotels would be used, the city declined to answer. The city cited safety concerns for the asylum seekers.