Information released this month by Portland officials revealed that the city’s effort to place roughly 100 homeless individuals in shelters or affordable housing cost taxpayers $65,000 and resulted in just 18 people accepting the offer.
Nonprofit groups, in partnership with the city, staged a table outside of the Fore River Parkway encampment for several weeks before it was swept and cleared on Sept. 6.
City officials never revealed exactly how much the efforts to provide taxpayer-funded services to those homeless individuals cost.
But buried in a draft of an emergency declaration related to Portland’s encampment crisis considered by the City Council Tuesday, was the revelation that the city had spent more than $65,000 attempting to offer the almost 100 individuals housing.
That figure does not include the cost of staff time dedicated to the effort.
[RELATED: ‘Stop the Sweeps’: Portland Communists Rally Against City’s Homeless Encampment Clean Ups…]
Just 18 of those nearly 100 homeless individuals living in the encampment took the city up on its offers of services and housing — making those that refused housing not involuntarily homeless under the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals definition.
Portland’s Director of Health and Human Services Kristen Dow told the City Council on Sept. 6 that the ECRT had held three “housing fairs” at the Fore River encampment from August to Sept. 6, meeting with a total of 24 unique individuals from the encampment to offer them housing.
Dow’s goal, she said, was to offer everyone in the Fore River encampment housing several times before the sweep — a goal which she told the Council was achieved.
Homeless advocacy groups protested Portland’s policy of encampment resolutions after the Encampment Crisis Response Team (ECRT) swept the Fore River Parkway encampment on Sept. 6, with some speakers demanding that the city officially sanction a homeless encampment.
Speakers also accused Dow of spreading misinformation about the availability of shelter space and how many beds were actually offered to the people living in the Fore River encampment.
The City Council is considering relaxing certain building ordinances and fire codes to add an additional 150 bunk beds to the city’s Homeless Services Center, a project estimated to cost over $130,000.
After hearing concerns from numerous members of the public at the Tuesday evening encampment workshop, City officials now say they are working on a new proposal for consideration early next month that would expand shelter capacity by a smaller number.
Why not just stop all funding for the homeless immediately and let the NGO find a way rather than continue to waste taxpayer dollars on a situation that has no chance of ever being resolved? It is not in the City of Portland charter to address the homeless or illegal immigrant situation and yet millions of dollars that could be much better spent on real projects are flushed down the drain and wasted on dealing with the homeless and illegal immigrant situation. The taxpayers of Maine did not create these situations, Catholic Charities started the whole mess and the democrats have exacerbated the situation to the point of bankruptcy.
Only native born Mainers should benefit from any form of welfare funded by Maine Taxpayers !
Mentally ill Citizens should be treated & monitored or institutionalized.
All border breachers should be immediately deported.
A lot of heartless commenter here. Try showing some empathy for
your fellow human before immediately casting judgement
U guys want to buy me a house I damb sure would take it.
This shows the problems and abuses going unaddressed at shelters. Staff abuse is the norm. Grievances are thrown out or retaliated on. Drug use is unchallenged by staff in bathrooms and sleeping areas. Emails to board members and council city have gone unanswered. JOHS staff say “I just work here” and can take 3 days to point you to someone else. Food being served is not edible, typicaly only once a day. Dogood downtown has 1 male shower and 1 female shower for over 100 residents. More showers are downstairs but no one is allowed downstairs for any reason. The director is 23 years old and hired on what can only be described as an equity initiative. The city actually has millions more to open up new facilities, but no one is willing to take them. No one wants to work with city council, JOHS or existing staff that continue to fail miserably without accountability. Dogood has 10 board members sucking out most their budgets on salaries. Now we have san Francisco based Urban Alchemy taking contracts even they have several complaints and law suits happening. They hire only convicts, and I mean people out of jail 3 months after doing 40 years for murder. I tried to apply with a college degree and was told I don’t qualify since my felony is 30 years old. There is little to no oversight on these convicts. I saw loaded guns on site at their reedway location. Women complained of sexual harassment by staff who went to jail for this, and it’s ignored. Same staff still work there. This is why no one wants to live in the cities new concentration camps with people overdosing insted of being gassed all around you. Meanwhile the banks continue to hold the housing market hostage with no accountability coming for them either. How many people complaing are these same criminal bankers that got to keep the homeless people’s housing and money? Now they can’t stomach to witness the mess they created. No one wants your filthy and poorly ran shelters, Portland. Did you notice 65k didn’t even cover staff paychecks? These people managing our homeless are stealing money via salaries and no permanent homes are being found. It’s a scam no better than the banks. And just like the banks, crooked politicians keep feeding them and making it all legal. Dan Ryan I’m talking to you. Pick up your phone and reply to emails.
The Council needs a scapegoat – who will it be? Mayor Snyder? Manager West? Director Dow? Dion will orchestrate the takeover and all will fall in line. And lo and behold, Franklin Arterial becomes the new encampment with toilets, tents and three meals a day. Clean dispensaries. Drinks all around. Corruption? What corruption? We are just one big happy family.
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The Council needs a scapegoat – who will it be? Mayor Snyder? Manager West? Director Dow? Dion will orchestrate the takeover and all will fall in line. And lo and behold, Franklin Arterial becomes the new encampment with toilets, tents and three meals a day. Clean dispensaries. Drinks all around. Corruption? What corruption? We are just one big happy family.
Thank you for flying with SoMe Air.