The Portland City Council has rejected a proposal that would have temporarily prohibited the clearing of tent encampments and allowed camping on certain public property. Members of the public submitted more than 800 pages of comments on the issue, the council deliberated in person Monday night for more than five hours. night for more than four hours.
Opinions were sharply divided, but many agreed on at least one point — that the city's current approach to a growing homelessness crisis isn't working.
The proposal, introduced by City Councilors Anna Trevorrow and Roberto Rodriguez, drew two opposing rallies outside City Hall Monday evening.
A few dozen people gathered at Lincoln Park, holding signs that read, "no citywide encampments."
Across the street, another group of housing and community advocates held signs of their own and chanted, "stop the sweeps."
Four encampments have been removed by city or state workers throughout Portland over the last five months.
Unhoused people have lost their belongings and important documents as they been moved from place to place. And street outreach worker Michael Fletcher said in the chaos, those living in the site that's being cleared end up congregating with others at a new public space. And the cycle continues.
"They don't want to be in those crowded spaces. They were funneled there, because of the emphasis areas and because of these sweeps," Fletcher said. "Large encampments are more dangerous for the people in it, than the housed people that are complaining about it."
At the council meeting Monday night, Portland city staff were largely opposed to the measure. They argued that allowing tent encampments to stay and potentially proliferate would strain city police and public health resources and create safety hazards this winter.
Many, including Portland resident Mary Costigan, echoed their concerns.
"What are you going to do when there's a blizzard?" she said. "What are you when you need to move the streets? What are you going to do when it's minus 15?"
Others worried about the impacts on public parks, and viewed the proposal as a way to sanction encampments within Portland. Some likened the idea to the encampments that they've heard about Portland, Oregon.
But for Milestone outreach worker Dana Stalings, the ban on encampment sweeps is the next best option.
"Something we can do right now to stop harm is to stop the sweeps, and of course, it's not a long term. Of course, it's not long term," she said. "Nobody wants to be outside."
Cullen Ryan, executive director of Community Housing of Maine, said Portland should focus instead on bringing people indoors.
"Encampments extend and perpetuate homelessness," he said. "Please do not sanction them. Everyone belongs inside."
Federal data show that Maine is among just three states that sheltered at least 95% of its unhoused population last year. Though that population has recently grown, Ryan said Maine's largest city should continue to set a high bar.
"Maine is fortunate to have a shelter system, which, once reinforced, can meet the needs of the population," he said. "If we want this path, we can have it. By insisting that everyone deserves to come inside and by ensuring that we have the capacity for that, we can empty encampments and eliminate the need for sweeps."
And many argued, that work could begin soon.
The council approved a measure last week that will add 50 more beds to the city-run homeless shelter. And a new shelter will open next week for asylum seekers in Portland's Riverton neighborhood, freeing up as many as 120 beds at the Homeless Services Center.
"That means that 170 people currently in tents will have the ability to go into shelter starting next week," said Portland Mayor Kate Snyder. "We need a commitment to moving people indoors, because if we wait for them to make that choice, well, that's what we've been doing since May."
Snyder said the city should focus on how it will transition a large number of people from the encampments to open shelter beds.
But others, including outreach worker Michael Fletcher, said that's a tall order. Based on its experiences over the summer, Portland doesn't have the best track record in convincing those living in the encampments to accept a shelter bed, if one is available.
And Fletcher said the continued clearing of encampments around Portland has further eroded any trust that unhoused people may have in city-run institutions.
"If someone was committing violence to you, would you step into their home, to sleep on their couch? I wouldn't," Fletcher said. "You can take that metaphor as the shelter and the city. They're committing violence against them, why would they go into your shelter?"
But even if those living in Portland's encampments fill all 170 shelter beds that are coming online in the next few weeks, many argued that there's still not enough space indoors. According to city data, there are about 230 tents around Portland.
"I just don't understand what we expect them to do after we sweep the place in which they're existing, if there aren't shelter beds for them to go to," said City Councilor Roberto Rodriguez. "I don't understand the purpose of the sweep, if it's been preempted as an incentive to accept beds that, as I just explained, don't exist."
City staff said they haven't yet set a date to clear Portland's largest encampment, now located under the Casco Bay Bridge at Harbor View Memorial Park.
And at about 1:30 a.m., city councilors ended their deliberations and voted. The measure failed, 6-3. Portland will swear in a new council and mayor on Dec. 4.
