
Sanford Police Maj. Matthew Gagne walks through the city’s largest homeless encampment, much of which had already been cleared Monday afternoon. Hannah LaClaire/Staff Writer
SANFORD — Mark Roy wraps a bungee cord around a propane heater, securing it to a dolly that’s already loaded with a full plastic trash can holding a friend’s belongings and tent as the two prepare to clear out of Sanford’s Heritage Crossing homeless encampment.
Roy’s belongings have already been moved to a storage unit in town.
A subcontractor, he’s been homeless for the last three months after he couldn’t find an affordable apartment in the area.
He’s been living at the city’s largest encampment for a few weeks but doesn’t know where he’ll go next.
“They’re just pushing us out,” he said.
Roy joins roughly 40 others who had to vacate the encampment wedged between an abandoned mill building and the Mousam River.
Whether ironically or aptly, the site has been earmarked for the city’s first “Housing First” development. The Sanford Housing Authority plans to build 30 apartments, offering housing and support services for residents who have a history of chronic homelessness.
City officials began warning residents in late April that the encampment would be cleared out, City Manager Steven Buck said.
Sanford Police Maj. Matthew Gagne said all but about 10 people had already packed up and left by Monday morning.
Crews rolled in at 8 a.m. and started clearing what was left.
‘DEPLORABLE AND UNSAFE’
The property at 10 Heritage Crossing was, until recently, owned by Regco Inc., a now-defunct and bankrupt corporation. Buck said the owners have ignored the city’s pleas to clean up the buildings and address the dangerous conditions, even despite court actions.
The former mill building and surrounding land – which until Monday was home to the city’s largest homeless encampment – is a brownfield site in need of remediation. Sanford took possession of the property in April, after the owner had not paid taxes for two years.
“The encampment grew in numbers and disarray over the past two years in which the Regco Inc., refused all communications from the city and would not grant permission to enter or address,” Buck said in a news release. “This has resulted in an encampment of deplorable and unsafe conditions not fit for human occupation.”

Crews on Monday afternoon clear Sanford’s largest homeless encampment at 10 Heritage Crossing. City officials said an estimated 40 to 45 people had been living in the encampment, which they said had “deplorable and unsafe conditions.” Hannah LaClaire/Staff Writer
By late Monday afternoon, much of the trash and debris had been removed, but Gagne, who oversees support services for the police department, described piles of trash 6 feet high, abandoned tents, human waste and scattered needles.
Roy said the trash buildup led to a rat infestation.
He can see why the city would want the area cleaned up but feels like the residents should have been offered a better solution, like a site for another encampment, he said.
Sanford officials previously said that would be on the table.
“Early in the process, two plus years ago, an organized encampment with rules, trash, facilities and other services was discussed,” Buck said in an email Monday. “There have been a number of attempts for that situation elsewhere that have reasonably failed. So the City did not stand up an organized encampment as a long-term sustainable strategy. We focused on entry into shelter, treatment, and housing as the best practice for long term success.”
City officials have said they see homeless people not as problems to be dealt with but as residents they can help.
The city provides them with portable toilets, free access to showers and – until recently – trash removal at the encampments. Buck said the trash removal contract “created a public use dumping area” that was abused by people outside of the encampment.
“It created an unsightly and health condition causing public complaints and was therefore discontinued. All of this was prior to the city acquiring the property and was not allowed entrance to or the ability to set up other actions,” he said.
The situation then devolved as the population at the encampment shot up. In December, roughly 30 people lived there. Six months later, that increased to the estimated 40 to 45.
Sanford’s approach to managing the city’s homelessness crisis has been heralded as “progressive,” with a focus on providing aid. But that gets harder as the number of homeless people grows. Three years ago, the city counted 10 homeless people. Monday, the estimate skewed widely from 40 to 200. In November, the city counted 153.
“We’re sensitive to the fact that these people don’t have a place to go,” Gagne said. “We know them.”
PROVIDING RESOURCES
Buck said that when the city started warning people in April that the encampment would be closing, the notices were accompanied by resource guidance, coordinated case management, housing navigation and other resources like substance use treatment. A local homelessness task force developed a 19-step closure plan with guidance from the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness.

Debris left behind at Sanford’s Heritage Crossing homeless encampment after crews began clearing it Monday. Hannah LaClaire/Staff Writer
“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,” the policy reads.
Last week, the Sanford Housing Authority, York County Shelter Program and York County Community Action Corp set up a “resource hub” at Sanford’s Central Park, just a few blocks from the encampment. There, they can connect people with services, like treatment for substance use disorder or a spot at one of the shelters.
Diane Small, executive director of the Sanford Housing Authority, said that by Monday, the resource hub had 61 visits, though some of them were repeats. The agencies plan to be there through this week.
On Monday alone, they brought two people to the shelter, one to permanent housing and another to a detox program, Gagne said. He said he hopes the support net will help minimize the blow of having to close the camp.
There are roughly 53 shelter beds in York County. They fill up fast and the numbers shift constantly but Small said that “across the continuum,” between the shelter – which requires residents to be sober and mentally under control – and the Layman Way Recovery Center, there should be enough beds for the people who want them.
“But some people aren’t ready to accept services,” she said.
Michael, 50, who asked not to give his last name, was rushing to pack up his campsite by the 3 p.m. deadline and still meet with the resource hub.
He has been homeless since January 2023 and stayed at the city’s warming center at the Lafayette School until it closed in late April. He cleaned up his site at the encampment where he had managed to create a functional bathroom, kitchen and bedroom. Taking it all down again on Monday and loading it into a truck was challenging, he said, especially because he has a heart condition and isn’t supposed to be doing any physical work, let alone in the heat.
He doesn’t know where he’s going next.
“I have nowhere to go, nowhere to stay,” he said.
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