A homeless encampment located at Heritage Crossing in Sanford, the site of a large abandoned mill complex, is scheduled to be closed next week due to solid waste polluting the Mousam River.
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At a Tuesday evening Sanford City Council meeting, City Manager Steven Buck said the Heritage Crossing homeless encampment has been expanding since the closure of the city’s winter warming shelter at the start of May.
“The Heritage Crossing encampment was noted to have been growing in numbers, with people coming from undisclosed areas, as the case managers no longer recognize all of those that are populating the encampment,” Buck said.
The encampment is slated to be cleared on Saturday, June 15, and the city will be placing a resource hub with case managers and housing navigators on site from June 11 to June 14, to help the homeless individuals in the encampment move into shelters before it is cleared.
Buck said that there currently is capacity available for those at the encampment to receive rehabilitation and shelter services.
Sanford Mayor Becky Brink said at the Tuesday meeting that the site is “a public health hazard due to accumulated waste that is now entering the Mousam River,” as well as a public safety hazard as police are frequently called to the location.
Brink said that following the cleanup, the site will be turned into a “housing first” residential housing complex, with 24/7 onsite case management services.
The Sanford mayor emphasized that the planned housing complex will not require residents to be clean or in recovery from addiction.
“We need to clear that encampment and get all the hazardous materials out, so then we can build the housing first project,” Brink said. “And you don’t have to be clean, you don’t have to be in recovery.”
[RELATED: ‘Please carry Narcan, do not use alone’: Sanford PD Responds to Three Overdoses in 24 Hours…]
According to City Manager Buck, the water quality and solid waste departments of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (Maine DEP) reached out to Sanford Police and the city manager’s office with concerns related to the conditions of the Heritage Crossing site.
The Maine DEP will be assessing the site on June 12, Buck said, adding that he expects to get “a very staunch letter” from the agency demanding action be taken “because they know that there’s waste that is infiltrating into the river.”
The Heritage Crossing International Woolen Mill complex, once an industrial hub, has sat deserted for years and has continued to deteriorate, with people breaking into the buildings, Buck said.
[RELATED: Sanford Man Stabbed Multiple Times After Having His Bike Stolen Near City’s Homeless Hot Spot…]
The city was recently able to come into control of the mill complex due to the property being subject to tax lien foreclosure, allowing the city to take action on clearing the homeless encampment and to develop the planned housing project.
Last July, the city suspended a syringe exchange program that operated at Heritage Crossing due to public health and safety concerns and complaints from nearby business owners.
Also during their Tuesday meeting, the Sanford City Council voted to adopt a 19-point strategic plan to address homeless encampments in the city, based on guidelines focusing on coordinated outreach and housing efforts from the federal Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH).
“To solve homelessness, communities must use evidence-based strategies to collaboratively, equitably, and humanely address the housing and service needs of people without homes, even when permanent housing is not immediately available,” the strategic plan reads.
“When an encampment is prioritized for closure, the process must be implemented in a humane and trauma-informed way, and the goal must be to connect every person to housing and services to help them overcome and avoid future experiences of homelessness,” it states.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="28493 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=28493">6 Comments
It’s okay to poop in the street — BUT — poop in the environment — that’s against Mother Nature!
They should be moved down to Cape Elizabeth. The ocean is a much bigger toilet.
Shut down the free money and they will move to DC.
As these illegal migrants continue to destroy , pollute ,ruin OUR environment and continually cost US THE TAXPAYERS money for police , medical ,education, housing,food, etc etc etc , our governor wants another 75,000 of them … let them live with HER!
Steve Robbins “They should be moved down to Cape Elizabeth. The ocean is a much bigger toilet.”
AFTER the state makes them clean up the mess, they have made there. No they don’t get paid or any form of renumeration. Don’t want to clean, fine, get a rope, now part of what needs to be cleaned up.
HOLD ON! I got a better idea than a rope. Make Czarina Mill’s take their place. Here’s a trash bag and a shovel (B)witch get to work.