The Portland planning board has approved nearly 100 new apartments, including units intended to serve chronically unhoused people, in the city's Bayside neighborhood.
The project, developed by Avesta Housing and Reveler Development, will have 28 Housing First units at the site of the city's former Oxford Street shelter. And it will offer both housing and 24/7 support services for residents.
The development will also include 20 income-restricted apartments and 48 other units rented at market rates, and it will be built in phases. The project received some pushback, particularly from neighbors.
Residents, for example, argued that the plans to segregate Housing First apartments, income-restricted units and market-rate housing into separate buildings contradict with Portland's inclusionary zoning rules. And neighbors said they weren't satisfied with the developers' plans for public safety; as Bayside has encampments and shelters that they said already draw trafficking, open drug use and crime.
"This proposal is not good for future clients, it's not good for the neighborhood, and it's not good for Portland," said Bayside resident Jim Hall.
But Greg Payne, the governor's senior housing adviser, said the projects like this one will help Portland and Maine end chronic homelessness.
"This is not a band-aid or a shelter or transitional housing," he told members of the Portland planning board Tuesday night. "It is a solution."
Payne and advocates for the unhoused said Housing First is seen as a proven model to help the most vulnerable, many of whom have untreated mental health conditions and substance use disorder. The non-profit Preble Street will provide 24/7 support services to residents at the new development, just as it does at Maine's existing Housing First properties.
The state currently has three, and all are in Portland.
The Oxford Street project is the first to receive municipal approval since Maine lawmakers approved a statewide expansion and dedicated funding for Housing First projects back in 2023.
Payne said at least seven projects throughout Maine will initially apply for state Housing First funding, which is expected to come online this summer.
