The city of Bangor spent about $119,000 to close and clean up the Tent City encampment this year, according to a spokesperson.
Tent City, also known as Camp Hope, was Bangor’s largest homeless encampment when the city closed it in February. The land, which spans about 7 acres between Cleveland Street and Texas Avenue, was home to nearly 100 people.
This is the first known dollar amount for an encampment cleanup in Bangor, showing the taxpayer cost of shutting down a homeless community that existed for years on city land. The city has not yet revealed any plans for the now-empty site.
About $81,000 of the total money spent went toward Public Works Department expenses, including labor, equipment and materials, city spokesperson David Warren said.
This spring, the city set out to clean up the site and remove waste, a process that required removing a layer of topsoil. Homeless encampment cleanups sometimes involve hazardous materials like needles, bodily fluids and human waste.
An expert told the Bangor Daily News in May he would estimate a cost in the “tens of thousands of dollars” to clean up an encampment the size of Tent City.
The city has no plans for what to do with the now-empty land.
Bangor City Council initially agreed in October 2024 to give Dignity First, a homelessness services nonprofit, the option to lease the land so the group could eventually build a tiny home village there. But the organization’s request for federal funding for the project was denied this spring.
The group’s proposal is “no longer an active project” with the city, according to Warren.
There are plans to build a permanent supportive housing facility nearby, on a parcel of land between Maine Avenue and Corporate Drive. The project, expected to open in spring 2027, will supply 30 housing units for people who have been chronically homeless.
Permanent supportive housing initiatives, which combine housing assistance with voluntary services that can help residents struggling with substance use disorder or mental illness, have been proven to significantly reduce the cost of services like health care and police incurred by participants.