-
The plan would convert one motel into a transitional housing for the next year, with funding from MaineHousing and services provided by Catholic Charities.
-
The proposal calls for housing as many as 600 asylum seekers at the Unity Environmental University campus in Unity. Proponents said it would help new immigrants and free up resources for other unhoused populations around the state.
-
City councilors Monday night advanced a plan to partner with a development company and an immigrants' rights group to operate the 180-bed shelter.
-
The Expo will also stop accepting new shelter guests after June 5.
-
Advocates say some have already received eviction notices ahead of a June 30 deadline for motels to cease operating as de facto emergency shelters.
-
The idea is to find other spaces for asylum seekers, so that homeless shelters can be used for the population they were designed to serve.
-
More than 100 asylum seekers had arrived in Sanford since last week, including some who had left shelters in Portland in hopes of finding better housing.
-
At an emergency meeting on Tuesday night, city officials in Sanford addressed confusion and concern over the unexpected arrival of more than 100 asylum seekers in the last week.
-
Many of the new arrivals said they had been turned away from at-capacity shelters in Portland.
-
The city is asking the community for help with donations.