PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — The number of people experiencing homelessness in Presque Isle has doubled since this time last year. The dramatic increase has left help agencies short of housing, prompting them to seek state help, including permission to use the local Army National Guard facilities as an overflow shelter.
Aroostook County has 113 people experiencing homelessness and residing in the homeless shelters and hotels like the Presque Isle Inn & Convention Center, with 54 percent having a source of income and 32 percent actively seeking employment, according to data from the Aroostook Homeless Stakeholders.
With winter fast approaching and the number of people experiencing homelessness still increasing, the pressure is on help agencies to find shelter in an area where there already is a shortage of affordable housing.
“I think the [housing] market has changed; the supply and demand has changed. We’ve had a lot of new individuals come from away when COVID happened, because Aroostook County was considered ‘safer’ from COVID so it actually brought in a lot of individuals from out of state,” said Heidi Rackliffe, director of programs for Aroostook Community Action Program.
ACAP has asked Maine Housing and a representative from Gov. Janet Mills’ office if it can use Army National Guard facilities, including the one in Presque Isle, as the next overflow shelters. ACAP also plans to convert its Hope & Prosperity building into a 13-unit supportive housing complex with construction beginning in March 2023.
The agency has looked at 20 locations across Presque Isle and Aroostook County to house the homeless population, but has run into zoning-related issues, such as buildings lacking the sprinkler systems required for such facilities. There also has been some resistance from Presque Isle city officials, who have suggested those experiencing homelessness should be moved to a facility outside of Presque Isle, according to Jason Parent, executive director and CEO for ACAP.
Discussions during an August joint meeting between two Presque Isle city council members, Martin Puckett, and the police department indicated that an overflow facility would be better located outside of the city limits due to the zoning restrictions.
ACAP has since found willing landlords but not a suitable facility in the industrial park area that surrounds the agency and the homeless shelter. About two weeks ago, Northern Maine Community College gave the O’Donnell shelter to Homeless Services, which had been leasing it for the past 20 years.
People in Presque Isle experiencing homelessness are paying rent at eight different hotels across Aroostook County through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, which uses federal money funneled through Maine Housing Authority. As part of this program, ACAP has placed some people at the Sister Mary O’Donnell Homeless Shelter — although no specific number was available — and 70 at the Presque Isle Inn.
On Sept. 29, Maine Housing announced that the Emergency Rental Assistance program is not taking any new applications.
Homelessness in Aroostook was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with job loss, reduction of hours and businesses closing as driving factors. Another complication was two apartment building fires that occurred earlier in the year in Houlton and Caribou, which left 63 people homeless. ACAP housed them temporarily at three different hotels in Presque Isle and Houlton, including the Presque Isle Inn. There are some still experiencing homelessness from the apartment fires, although ACAP’s Rackliffe did not have a specific number.
Last year at this time, there were 29 people sheltering at the Sister Mary O’Donnell shelter. In September 2022, that number had increased to 38. Eleven people housed at O’Donnell left with rental assistance. Another 21 found housing through Aroostook Bridge Program, which assists people who have criminal records.
There have been 1,827 people served so far in 2022, with an average length of stay in the shelter of 45 days, according to Homeless Services data. The shelter also served 3,812 people who were having difficulty obtaining housing due to criminal records.
“There’s situations like that that happen all the time. It is literally one life event that any one of us could be at a risk of experiencing homelessness,” Rackliffe said.
There also were 15 people turned away from the shelter, including for reasons related to mental health, sex offenses, drug-related crimes, not actually homeless, being from out of the area and having excessive medical needs.
Parent said ACAP had no choice but to use the rental assistance program to prevent individual people, families or senior citizens from being evicted from their homes — not rentals — in Aroostook County. In June 2022, the rental assistance program reduced the amount of time it could be used from 18 to 12 months, and lowered the income eligibility from 80 percent of the area’s median income to 50 percent.
In October 2021, changes to the Emergency Rental Assistance program allowed people who were housing insecure and experiencing homelessness to live in hotel rooms temporarily if no other shelter was available.
ACAP met on Thursday, Sept. 22, to form a task force with other organizations, such as Homeless Services and Aroostook Homeless Stakeholders, to find an immediate solution for this winter for people who are experiencing homelessness.
