Mayor Kate Snyder Addressed a Roomful of Guests at the New Homeless Center This Morning. “This is a milestone.” She Has Said She is Not up For Re-election.
An Outdoor Seating Area.
The Spacious Entrance to the New Homeless Shelter, 654 Riverside Street, Portland. Seating Arrangements are in the Forefront.
The grand opening of the long-anticipated Homeless Services Center was celebrated this morning at 654 Riverside Street, Portland. The celebration followed years of discussion, controversy, planning, design and finally, construction. The design was by Kevin Bunker of Portland based Developers Collaborative and the construction was by Cianbro Corporation. Bunker is the landlord.
But, it is anticipated that none of the homeless will occupy the buiding until next week because the city still has more work to do before it can be occupied.
Mayor Kate Snyder was the lead speaker for the numerous speakers to follow her. “This is a milestone beause now we can begin serving clients in a space that can actually meet their needs and will address people ‘s trauma and help them get back on their feet,,” she said. At 654 Riverside Street, occupants will have access to a bed, meals, day space, health care, housing counseling and an atttractive outdoor seating area for good weather use.
This building will replace the long outdated and overcrowded Oxford Street Shelter. Some who have stayed there in past years say they prefer not to stay there because of overcrowding and lack of security issues among other concerns. Occupants must leave the Oxford Street property early in the morning not to return until late in the day. During winter weather, that was a problem for many guess at the Oxford Street shelter. That is not the case at 654 Riverside Street.
The Homeless Shelter will house 208 occupants – a number that was intensely debated by some members of the Portland city council in past years..
Some critics have been disappointed that the location is out of the downtown area of Portland. That’s because many rely on services that can’t be replicated in Riverton – a more rural location – such as the Portland Public Library. For some, the forced isolation is an effort to keep the homeless “out of sight and out of mind.”
Mathew MacMillan, Housing Navigator for the Oxford Street Shelter, will now move his services to the new Riverside Street facility he said late this morning. One of his jobs is to get people lined up to obtain housing vouchers. “I get them to the top of the list,” he said. “It’s tough finding housing now, more so than ever. There is no housing available.” MacMillan who has held this position since 2019 said he did not know how long the waiting list for housing vouchers in Portland is.