Snow and cold are setting in, and people without reliable accommodations are at the mercy of winter in Aroostook County.
With Presque Isle’s homeless shelter near capacity, staff are working to help those in need find shelter from the elements.
Homeless Services of Aroostook opened a warming center Nov. 10, and soon the organization will open a second building to increase the number of people it can help. Many are not new to the area but have lost their housing because of the rising cost of living, Homeless Services Executive Director Kari Bradstreet said.
“Some of the people that are experiencing homelessness are people that you would not expect. They’ve come upon hard times,” Bradstreet said. “Groceries, gas, utilities — high prices are affecting people. Some have had to transition to the shelter.”
Other areas, like Bangor, have dealt with homelessness on a larger scale. The city has struggled to find room for its homeless people and has cleared encampments, and now lawmakers want to ban that practice.
An annual survey of Maine’s homeless population revealed that on Jan. 24 there were 4,258 people without homes statewide. Cumberland County, the most populous county in the sate, had the most homeless people by far with 2,009. Aroostook had the second fewest with 58, despite having the sixth largest population in Maine.
The Sister Mary O’Donnell Shelter serves all of Aroostook County and is the only homeless shelter north of Bangor. The 49-bed center operates at or near capacity most of the time, housing 48 to 50 people regularly, Bradstreet said.
The Bangor Area Homeless Shelter offers 38 beds, but during the winter when there is an overflow it can add five more beds, shelter aide Savannah Peterson said Friday. The facility will open its warming center, which can hold 38 additional people, on Dec. 6.
“We open up our day room at night to allow people to come in,” Peterson said. “We provide them a warm meal and a place to stay out of the elements.”
Right now the Presque Isle shelter’s dining room becomes a nighttime warming center that can hold 10 people, Bradstreet said. Those who come in can gather in the lobby, have a meal and a shower and sleep the night on floor mats.
But soon the adjoining building will be ready for occupancy and the accommodations will expand.
Homeless Services received a MaineHousing grant in April to buy the empty building at 160 Airport Drive, next to the shelter. Renovations have created administrative offices and a large group room, along with two family rooms, Bradstreet said. All that’s lacking is for the fire protection system to be installed, which should be done by year’s end.
When the new building opens, it will hold up to 15 people and have cots available for sleeping. The warming center is low-barrier, but the two family rooms will be under the high-barrier guidelines of the Sister Mary O’Donnell shelter program, she said.
Low-barrier means people can come “as they are” to access the accommodations without having to prove sobriety or meet other requirements, according to a 2019 MaineHousing analysis.
Most of the shelter guests are from the local area, Bradstreet said. Though calls do come in from people in southern Maine, she tries to help them understand the area and how far north Presque Isle is. The shelter’s priority is to keep beds available for County residents, she said.
Mental health issues compound the situation. It’s common for those who are homeless to also be dealing with depression, anxiety or more, she said. The shelter works to connect them with help.
For Bradstreet, the community is a definite bright spot in the struggle to help those in need. Staff and residents are grateful for the many donations of food, clothing, bedding and more, she said. Now that winter is here, those donations will help even more people.
She has recently started posting immediate needs on social media, which has been successful, she said. Just last week, she requested toddler beds for the soon-to-open family space, and people quickly fulfilled the need.
“We are so grateful because the community is stepping up and helping,” she said. “I had a resident say they had never felt so connected to a community, and I think that’s a huge statement coming from a resident within the shelter.”
