Maine’s homeless population has risen significantly in recent years and, for Hancock County, nowhere is that more apparent than in Ellsworth.
The city has a shelter with 25 beds downtown but consistently has other homeless people living in tents pitched in the woods behind stores along the busy commercial High Street corridor.
Ellsworth doesn’t have encampments that rival the size of those in larger Maine cities such as Bangor and Portland, but it has roughly a half dozen known wooded locations where one or more tents have been occupied this summer.
As homelessness explodes across the state, Ellsworth now finds itself grappling with how to solve a growing problem that has bedeviled much larger cities.
“It is something that is becoming worse,” Dale Hamilton, chair of the city council, recently told other Ellsworth officials.
Estimates for the number of homeless people living outside in Ellsworth over the past couple of years range between one or two dozen, according to officials who run local shelters. That’s more than pre-pandemic surveys that counted fewer than 10 people at improvised campsites spread around the city’s urban center.
“I’ve been at this for 19 years,” said Tracey Hair, executive director of H.O.M.E. in Orland and the Emmaus Shelter in downtown Ellsworth. “I’ve never seen so many people in the woods. It’s an epidemic.”
This week in Ellsworth, roughly half a dozen tents were visible just a few yards into the trees behind Maine Coast Mall on High Street, while three or four tents were readily visible along the south side of the Downeast Sunrise Trail, just east of where the trail curves away from High Street toward the town of Hancock. Other tents could be found not far into the woods next to Walmart and behind Eastward Lane.
Troy Bires, the city’s deputy police chief, said that the department occasionally sends officers to the encampments to handle reports of thefts or assaults or to do wellbeing checks. The frequency of such calls has not yet gotten to a point where police have had to devote more time to addressing homeless issues.
Homelessness has doubled overall in Maine in the past few years, fueled largely by soaring housing costs that make it harder for people to stop living in tents, according to Hair.
Shaina Fraser, executive director of Families First, said $1,500 in monthly rent, which now is typical for an Ellsworth apartment, is simply too high for families who are looking to escape homelessness and move into long-term housing.
“We find there are no housing options for our people to go to when they graduate from our program,” Fraser said.
To complicate matters, there is a significant statewide shortage of “low-barrier” shelter beds, which are eligible to people who may have behavioral issues, according to Hair. Often such people are unable or unwilling to participate in transition programs aimed at getting them safely inside at night, and most shelters are geared toward helping families and others who don’t suffer from significant mental or drug problems.
“We don’t have the right kind of shelters for people struggling with substance abuse,” Hair said.
The fact that some homeless people have cars and jobs demonstrates just how severe the housing shortage is, Hair said.
Last year, Hair’s agency helped a mother and son who were working at a national retailer, which she declined to identify, and were living in tents in the adjacent woods. But after the store found out homeless people were living on the property, the landowner had the tent sites cleared out.
“They had to give up their jobs,” Hair said, adding that H.O.M.E. helped the mother and son move out of state to live with family.
One homeless man in Ellsworth who did not want to be identified said Thursday that he wants to work but has health issues. He said he is 67 years old and has been seeking medical treatment for his condition, which he declined to describe, so he can be able-bodied again.
“I’d like to get on a lobster boat,” he said. “I’ve worked on crab boats before.”
The man, who grew up in New England, said he has been living in the woods within walking distance of High Street for the past two winters. He said he lives by himself, relies on food stamps for meals, and makes campfires to help stay warm. He has a tent and a sleeping bag that allows him to weather the cold.
“I’m good to 20 below zero,” he said.
In the meantime, Ellsworth’s city council is taking a greater interest in addressing homelessness.
Councilor Gene Lyons raised the issue of panhandling at a recent council meeting. He said he wants homeless people to be able to get food but has safety concerns about asking motorists for money at busy intersections. Lyons, who drives a truck for work, said he nearly caused an accident when another driver in front of him stopped to give money to a person standing in the median on Myrick Street.
Glenn Moshier, Ellsworth’s city manager and police chief, said the city cannot outlaw panhandling, which Portland tried but failed to do 10 years ago. Ellsworth might be able to restrict when and where panhandling occurs without banning the practice outright, he said.
Councilor Jon Stein said he’s asked senior Ellsworth officials to continue communicating with local agencies that assist homeless people on a daily basis so the city can come up with strategies that help homeless people and local landowners and residents. He said it is just a matter of time before Ellsworth’s growing homeless population demands more of the city’s attention.
The council plans to schedule a public workshop on the topic sometime next month, after local elections are held.
