A Skowhegan homeless shelter was ordered to shut down on Wednesday following a months-long dispute surrounding code enforcement and the shelter’s failure to install a sprinkler system.
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“It’s unfortunate, but I am glad that the state is providing resources for the folks that are residing there to find alternate places to live. Obviously, it is safety concerns that they’ve been cited on for years,” said Rep. Jennifer Poirier (R-Skowhegan) speaking with The Maine Wire.
“I hope for the best for people. I just want everybody to be in a safe environment,” she added.
On Wednesday, Rep. Poirier posted an email sent to her from Gov. Janet Mills’ senior policy analyst Mary Anne Turowski, regarding Shelters by Jesus, a homeless shelter operated by a church.
According to that letter, the town and state have been working with the shelter for months about issues surrounding the shelter’s code compliance.
The shelter’s chairman and CFO, Ken Allen, requested that the governor give him a 12-18 month extension to install sprinkler systems in their family shelter, but the request was denied.
“Our response was no to the extension; lack of a sprinkler system is dangerous and puts the residents at risk and is in violation of town code compliance requirements and state law,” said Turowski.
In response to the shelter’s failure to install a system, the town of Skowhegan issued a cease and desist order against the family shelter.
The Maine State Housing Authority will help to relocate the families, and Skowhegan’s code enforcement officer said that the town will give a week or so to allow families to relocate before the shelter shuts down.
Poirier told The Maine Wire that she believes that the shelter was never authorized to operate as a family shelter, though a different men’s shelter on the same property is authorized.
She said that she offered to help the shelter access state resources to help them continue operations, but they chose not to because accessing those resources would require them to face more state regulations that they are currently exempt from as a church.
The Maine Wire made three separate attempts to speak with someone from the shelter. The first two people who spoke with The Maine Wire declined to comment and directed us to call another number for their CFO Allen, but he did not pick up, and there was no option to leave a voicemail.
