PORTLAND, Maine — If you've been on YouTube or Facebook recently and live in Portland, you've probably seen the video advertisements taking aim at Portland's response to the issues surrounding homelessness.
Those ads, funded by local political group Enough is Enough, featured businesses and residents that work and live near encampments in the city. Those people quoted about their concerns surrounding claims of crime and hostility around the encampments.
"The big question here is, what is being done?" Matt Marks, a spokesperson for Enough is Enough, said.
Marks said the ads are designed to encourage people to ask the city to do more to help businesses and homeless people.
"At the end of the day the city needs to take some action, we've had these encampments for years," Marks said.
Portland Mayor Kate Snyder responded to the ads Friday afternoon, saying it opens a conversation about how much blame is put on the city surrounding these issues.
"Our community is being significantly impacted by the ever-increasing existence of encampments in the city of Portland," Mayor Snyder said. "Is it only in the city of Portland? No. We need to take a multipronged approach."
Mayor Snyder said the city hopes to bring more people into emergency beds with the opening of a new asylum seeker shelter in November. That shelter will bring many of the asylum seekers currently at the Homeless Services Center, opening more beds for people looking for shelter.
Barriers to getting into city shelters have notoriously kept homeless people from saying yes to offers in the first place.
This came into play when the city cleared the Fore River Parkway homeless encampment.
The city has long stated that just 18 people at Fore River out of 180 accepted the offer for the shelter. Those experiencing homelessness along with nonprofits working to help unhoused people said the barriers at city-run shelters keep people from saying yes.
Barriers include drug use, pets, going with a partner, curfews, and time to apply.
In its after-incident report, the city said it is working to address a few of these barriers such as extending curfew, increasing storage for personal belongings, and consolidating the application process.
City Council plans to address the need for emergency shelter beds as the winter approaches at the upcoming City Council meeting on Oct. 16. There, the council will also vote, yet again, on a proposal that would temporarily open 50 beds at the HSC.