PORTLAND, Maine — Dozens of tents belonging to unhoused people in Portland lined the property of the Maine Department of Transportation park-and-ride lot until workers dispersed half of the encampment Thursday.
The MaineDOT's goal, according to press releases, is to allow unhoused people to use the parking lot as shelter while using the other half of the parking lot for its intended purposes.
The move came quickly Thursday morning, with tents cleared within a couple of hours.
Chelsea Locke was one of the unhoused people who had to move her things. She said she became homeless in May after losing her housing.
"This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do," Locke said. "I lost my housing... I couldn't find a place in time so they took my Section 8 away."
Locke's tent was on the side of the encampment that was shut down.
She told NEWS CENTER Maine she did not get the notice in time and was stuck trying to bring whatever she could to the other side of the fence.
The MaineDOT ended up putting some of her belongings in a dumpster truck.
MaineDOT said in an email they would have cleared the entire encampment, forcing nearly a hundred people onto the streets of Portland, if it wasn't for the city's months-long plan to address people staying at the many encampments around the city.
"The City’s process used to resolve encampments calls for setting a date in early September after the Fore River Parkway encampment resolution date," Nina Fisher said in a statement. Fisher is the deputy commissioner for MaineDOT.
This summer, Portland announced it would pull together a committee of people to offer resources to residents staying at encampments.
Portland announced it would start with the encampment at Fore River Parkway and offer everyone shelter before shutting it down Sept. 6.
Milestone Recovery, an organization that brings resources to unhoused people in the city, responded to the encampment clearing Thursday.
Courtney Bass, who works with Milestone, said forcing people around from encampment to encampment is discouraging.
"They're scared and they feel like they don't matter. I don't see a lot of these folks actually going to the shelter. There just needs to be another way," Bass said, referring to Portland's plan to offer shelter to people.
The city plans to clear the Fore River Parkway encampment on Sept. 6 and then set a new date to clear the Marginal Way encampment afterward.