Christine Howe pushes a cart with her belongings along Congress Street on Wednesday, passing the First Parish Church, where Greater Portland Peer Service runs an emergency warming shelter. Howe, 41, who has been homeless for nearly a year, had been living behind Trader Joe’s last summer and later along Marginal Way. Recently, she has been staying at a friend’s house. She had hoped to stay at the shelter Wednesday night and was disappointed to learn it would be closed until Saturday. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
Portland’s emergency warming shelter is in danger of closing and is asking the state for more money to keep its doors open though March.
Ben Skillings, the executive director of Greater Portland Peer Services, which runs the shelter, said Wednesday that his organization can only afford to open the shelter for around three more nights. He has asked MaineHousing to allocate another $200,000 to keep the facility running.
The organization was awarded $112,000 to run the 75-bed emergency shelter out of the First Parish Church on Congress Street this winter, but that money has dwindled this month. Skillings said the shelter has been open for 20 nights – though the city says it has only been notified of 13.
He said it costs $5,700 per night to run the warming shelter, typically when the daily average temperature is below 20 degrees or when a storm drops more than 10 inches of snow. He said most of that cost is to pay staff – 12 to 14 people per night each earning between $20 and $30 per hour – and that includes doctors in case of overdoses. There have been several at the facility this winter, Skillings said, but no deaths.
“I am very concerned about keeping the death count to zero, which is why we have so many staff each night,” he said.
The other costs are for trash removal, food, personal protective equipment, insurance, plumbing, repairs to the church and extra security. He said there are regular complaints about needles and other debris left in neighboring Freshmen Alley, which Skillings and his team is responsible for cleaning up.
“It’s so dangerous and people overdose left and right. People don’t seem to appreciate what we’re doing. The neighbors, the police department, the schools, there are a lot of complaints,” he said.
The warming shelter is a central part of the city’s Homeless Winter Emergency Response Plan, which outlines how to keep people living outside safe during the coldest months of the year.
A sign on the door of the emergency warming shelter of First Parish Church on Congress Street in Portland says it will be open Tuesday night. It is next slated to open on Saturday night, when temperatures are expected to drop to 12 degrees. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer
Without it, the city does not have a backup plan outside of the Homeless Services Center, which has a capacity of 258 beds.
“I don’t believe we have any other available resources,” city spokesperson Jessica Grondin said. “We’ve already increased capacity at the HSC. There’s only so much we can do as one entity.”
MAINEHOUSING REVIEWING REQUEST
Mayor Mark Dion is concerned about the warming shelter running out of funding while temperatures are still low.
“I know funding is an issue and there may be an end date in sight – that worries me,” he said.
Skillings is hopeful that the extra money from MaineHousing will come through. He’d like to consistently open four days a week, though it’s not clear if the state will approve that.
Scott Thistle, a spokesperson for MaineHousing, said the agency is reviewing the request and how Greater Portland Peer Services spent the initial $112,000.
“We don’t want them to have to close so we’re working to figure out if we can help,” he said. “This is a difficult population that they serve, it requires a lot in terms of staff, so their expenses are high.”
Thistle anticipates a decision will be made in the next few days.
The shelter is next slated to open on Saturday when overnight temperatures are expected to be 12 degrees.
Copy the Story LinkSend questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.