News Update

About 20 people now live in a homeless encampment along the railroad tracks near Penobscot Plaza on Washington Street in Bangor, according to city estimates, down from more than 40 in late November. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
Bangor city councilors on Friday decided to hold off on closing the homeless encampment near Washington Street in a special morning workshop meeting.

The city will not move forward with the deadline it initially set for people to leave the encampment, Dec. 19, but it has not yet set a new deadline.

“The 19th is not going to be feasible,” City Council Chair Susan Hawes said.

The move comes amid mounting pressure from critics, including encampment residents, community organizations and some city officials, to delay the closure because the city has no alternative plan for where people can go.

The encampment has already shrunk significantly, with City Manager Carollynn Lear reporting that about 20 people are now living there consistently — down from more than 40 when the City Council first began discussing the site in the last week of November.

The encampment is spread out along the railroad tracks beside the Penobscot River, with some tents sitting on railroad property and others on city property. The railroad company contacted the city last week saying it didn’t want people staying there, Lear told councilors earlier this week.

It might be feasible to allow encampment residents to stay past the deadline by moving onto the city-owned parts of the land, Lear said at the meeting Friday, although she added that city staff may need more time to determine whether this could be a workable short-term solution.

Geoffrey Low, Bangor’s fire chief, said Friday that he’s still concerned about the safety risks that come with having an encampment so close to the train tracks, although having fewer people there reduces the risk.

Mark Hathaway, the city’s police chief, also noted that the location is difficult to access from nearby roads, which can lengthen response times for medical emergencies.

In their discussions over the past three weeks, councilors have acknowledged that the railroad site is unsafe, but also that displacing encampment residents will only result in new encampments forming elsewhere, since there are limited options of other places people can go.

Mansion Church Pastor Terry Dinkins checks in on residents of the homeless encampment along the railroad tracks near Penobscot Plaza on Washington Street in Bangor. The city estimates that 20 people live there, down from more than 40 in late November. Credit: Linda Coan O’Kresik / BDN
“There’s been a practice of sort of managing a particular location until it has gotten out of control,” Lear told the Bangor Daily News, describing encampment closures in the past. After previous camps have been shut down, new ones form and “repeat the same pattern,” she said.

Of the 20 people still living at the site, six have housing vouchers and are searching for housing, according to Gunderman. About four others don’t yet have vouchers but are in the process to get one, she added.

Councilor Michael Beck noted that vouchers can effectively be “keys to doors that don’t exist,” since many landlords are unwilling to rent to tenants with a history of homelessness.

“That’s the hardest part,” Jennifer Marshall, who currently lives in the encampment with her boyfriend, said Thursday of their search for an apartment.

Marshall recently obtained a voucher, and “our case worker’s doing the best that she can as far as advocating for us to landlords so that we can hopefully get into a place before the [encampment] shutdown,” she said.

Hope House, the only low-barrier homeless shelter in the area, is currently at capacity, according to a Friday memo to councilors from Jennifer Gunderman, the city’s public health director.

Councilors have weighed the idea of establishing a sanctioned encampment space somewhere in the city, although Lear told the BDN she doesn’t expect councilors will have time to dig into this proposal when they meet next, on Monday.

Whether the council decides to let people stay on the city-owned land near the railroad or establish an outdoor location somewhere else, Lear emphasized that the city will need to provide resources onsite in order for it to be successful.

Those resources would need to include a bathroom and garbage pickup, she said, as well as some kind of perimeter and check-in system to manage the flow of people, because of concerns that setting up a sanctioned outdoor camp would attract large numbers of people and become difficult to manage.

City councilors will aim to set a new deadline for people to leave the railroad area during a special government operations committee meeting Monday evening, and they’ll talk more about the possibility of allowing some people to stay on the city-owned portion of the site.

Even without sticking to the initial Dec. 19 deadline, “we need to keep our foot on the gas,” Hawes said.

ELLSWORTH, Maine (WABI) – With roughly two weeks to go until Christmas, the Emmaus Homeless Shelter is in need of a Christmas miracle.
Just as they were getting ready to give out toys to around 230 children, a leak sprung into their Christmas room.
“A lot of water had gone through and seeped down into our toys and on some of our food. We’re very lucky we didn’t have a huge amount of damage, but we did lose gifts and some food for our holiday programs. We did lose a box of Legos for older kids and a box of remote control cars or toys,” said Stacey Herrick, director of the Emmaus Homeless Shelter.
The shelter says the community has done an incredible job, but families in the area need just a bit more help.
“They need the support of the community to make sure that when the kids wake up, they’re happy and have that Christmas morning that everybody dreams of,” said Herrick.
But the clock is ticking. The shelter is asking for donations by Monday, Dec. 15.
The building has staff 24/7, and any donations can be dropped off on site.
“If you have it in your hearts to help, even just one small thing, it just goes a long way. When everybody pulls together, we’re able to do wonderful things,” Herrick said.
The list of toys that the shelter lost in the leak is below:
Matchbox car carrier (1)
Lego kits for older female teens (3)
Lego kits for older male teens (5)
Twin Comforters (3)
Twin Blankets (2)
Full Comforters (6)
Full Blankets
Portable Speakers (5)
Remote Control Toys (7)

BANGOR, Maine (WVII) — City leaders in Bangor are considering a new approach to Maine’s homelessness crisis: a city-established and regulated encampment.
For years, the city has been clearing encampments, including Tent City, also known as Camp Hope, which was Bangor’s largest homeless encampment and was taken down in February.
However, a new encampment has emerged along the railroad tracks behind the plaza at Washington and Exchange Street.
“We were living, okay. Here, there, everywhere. But every time we set up a place, the cops move us. And tell us you can’t be here, got to keep going, to keep going,” said David Ackley, who’s been living at the encampment. “Then I found out that there’s no railroad police down here, and they said that long as you’re on that side of the road tracks, you’re fine until so forth.”
City officials say this new encampment is creating safety concerns. So, they are considering a new regulated encampment as a safer, more sustainable alternative.
“We can’t keep doing insanity, repeating the same thing over and over and over again,” Bangor City Councilor Joseph Leonard said. “A sanctioned encampment site that allows the city to regulate, establish laws, get citizens there to actually represent themselves into actually produce rules and order to maintain the community that’s there — that makes it much easier for social services, for EMS, for police to be able to get in there.”

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staff are on the ground in the Bangor area this week to support the response to Penobscot County’s HIV outbreak. Six CDC staff arrived Monday and will support state and local public health officials until Dec. 19, a CDC spokesperson told the Bangor Daily News.

BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – Members of Bangor’s homeless population have a few different options to get out of the cold and snow overnight.

At one point this fall, The Mansion Church was the only warming center in the city with funding.

Since then, the City of Bangor awarded a total of $120,000 split between two more organizations to operate shelters.

That means The Brick Church’s operation could get up and running starting last month. Their building has room for 70 people, making it the largest warming center in the city.

The overnight shelter typically operates from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., but in the case of extreme cold or snow, they stay open around the clock.

“We have plenty of food and plenty of warm blankets and plenty of space to curl up and relax and read a book. We’ll be open and serving people. We open up our store house and shower ministry at 10:00 a.m, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. And then we’ll just stay open the rest of the day through,” said ministries coordinator Zach Spaulding of The Brick Church’s plans for Tuesday, Dec. 2nd.

Just up Union Street is the third and newest warming center in Bangor.

When funding for The Brick Church was in jeopardy, Together Place Peer Run Recovery Center stepped up to open a shelter of its own. “The Sanctuary,” as it’s called, also received $60,000 from the city.

They have room for 40 people to stay overnight from 7:00 p.m to 7:00 a.m.

“I’ve accessed shelters like this, personally, in my past. I understand the importance of having a place like this and having some kind, loving, caring, compassionate people to receive you and allow you to maintain your dignity and help you make it through a night safe. Make it through a night safe,” said James Rickrode, coordinator, The Sanctuary.

The Sanctuary just opened last Friday and is still getting off the ground.

They’re in need of both volunteers and a creative solution to an emerging laundry crisis. They only have the ability to hook up one washer-dryer unit and are running it all day to keep up with linens.

They could also use donations such as single-serve snacks, coffee, creamer, sugar, and breakfast items.

AUGUSTA, Maine (WGME) — A peaceful sit-in that was supposed to take place in Augusta on Monday to put a spotlight on the homelessness crisis in the state did not happen.
A group was planning to demand action from lawmakers on affordable housing, shelter resources, and support services.
According to data from January 2025, around 2,400 people in Maine are experiencing homelessness.
That is 300 less than the previous year, but this group of concerned Mainers says that number is still far too high.
A 2023 study from the Maine State Housing Authority found Maine needs to build approximately 84,000 new homes by 2030 to meet population growth and address an historic underproduction of housing.