Bangor to think about a 12- to 18-month plan to sort out homelessness
BANGOR, Maine — Bangor will contemplate whether or not to undertake a 12- to 18-month plan to sort out homelessness, however metropolis councilors shared combined emotions a couple of draft proposal Wednesday.
The proposed plan won’t remedy homelessness in Bangor in such a brief interval, however it can present a framework for town, which has struggled to speak its imaginative and prescient to the general public, stated Councilor Jonathan Sprague, who drafted the plan.
“There isn’t a written plan of town’s intentions for addressing homelessness,” he stated throughout a authorities operations committee assembly Wednesday. “I don’t consider that this could ever have been acceptable.”
Bangor, like different main cities in Maine, is grappling with a homelessness disaster and a scarcity of inexpensive housing. In April, town took a brand new strategy when a federal catastrophe reduction workforce stepped in to deal with individuals dwelling within the Valley Avenue encampment moderately than merely dismantling it and pushing them out. Sprague’s proposal intends to doc efforts like that one and description clear motion steps to deal with the unhoused inhabitants and maintain the council accountable, he stated.
He introduced the proposal to 6 councilors current Wednesday however emphasised it’s only a place to begin for dialog, and it’ll want extra enter from the remainder of the council.
The proposal lists almost 30 motion steps, together with the assure of day by day warming facilities and in a single day shelter beds throughout excessive climate, and consideration of diversion methods that would save individuals getting ready to homelessness. Diversion may very well be funding a bus ticket to a beloved one prepared to supply housing or funding a safety deposit.
One step proposes town cut back limitations for individuals in search of housing, and it lists a tenants’ rights ordinance adopted in February and continued growth of a landlord liaison program.
Additionally listed is the potential adoption of a aim that each little one in Bangor can be adequately sheltered and nourished and have well timed entry to psychological well being providers.
Some work within the proposal is already underway, like launching Bangor’s Neighborhood Motion Group, which occurred earlier this yr. The workforce responds to vagrancy complaints and does welfare checks and different calls that don’t require a police presence.
A number of the motion steps are broad and it’s unclear how town will obtain them or measure their progress, however Wednesday’s assembly was a preliminary dialogue. For instance, the proposal goals to “cut back reliance on the library as a daytime sheltering house,” however how town goes about that’s unclear.
Within the three years that Sprague has been a councilor, homelessness has been a high difficulty, with hundreds of hours invested and tens of millions of {dollars} spent to deal with it, he stated. Many residents have failed to understand town’s efforts, and a cohesive plan would strengthen town’s methods and make higher use of assets, he stated.
Councilor Cara Pelletier stated the council just isn’t able to undertake a plan, and it ought to wait till it hires a homelessness specialist to make sure it’s well-informed and sustainable. The town would by no means undertake a complete plan with out an financial growth chief’s perspective, she stated.
Hiring a specialist earlier than the council can decide to what it has already stated it might do means avoiding the problems, Sprague stated.
“In order for you us to have an overarching, 18-month technique that we get behind as a council, then that doc needs to be developed with knowledgeable who understands what we might have missed and who can information us towards the suitable technique,” Pelletier stated.
Councilor Jonathan Leonard appreciated the concept of an motion plan and steered including an merchandise about bettering communication with Penobscot County, like having a councilor function a liaison. He noticed Sprague’s proposal as an evolving doc and agreed with Pelletier that an knowledgeable needs to be concerned.
Bangor’s Metropolis Council is subsequent scheduled to fulfill Monday, Sept. 11.
