The Bangor City Council unanimously approved funding Monday night for an as-needed overnight warming center at the Together Place recovery center that will open on the coldest nights this winter.
The added capacity will provide needed beds after two of the city’s warming centers were denied state funding this year. Warming center leaders and volunteers who spoke at Monday’s council meeting emphasized that those extra beds will save lives as the city continues to struggle with a homelessness crisis.
The as-needed warming center, which was proposed by the city’s public health department, will open on nights when the temperature drops below 15 degrees.
The city is directing up to $5,000 of the city’s heating assistance funds, about $11,000 in general assistance funds and $90,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds to support 40 beds at the Together Place for the warming center.
Beds at the nonprofit will supplement those at the Brick Church and the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, both funded by MaineHousing, and at the Mansion Church, which plans to open using volunteers despite being denied state funding. Those three shelters can support about 95 beds combined — about 30 fewer than the maximum number of people who visited a warming center in a single night last year.
The council also awarded $10,000 in Community Development Block Grant funds to The Well, a daytime warming center.
Speakers during the meeting’s public comment period were overwhelmingly supportive of the measure, with 12 people speaking in favor, and the council chamber filled with applause when it passed.
“You are saving people’s lives with this simple act,” resident Katie Coe said.
Pastor Leon Licata of the Brick Church told councilors he worried that people would be left out on the street this winter if the Together Place didn’t get funding for its shelter, and noted that all the warming centers work together to get people to the shelter that’s the best fit for them. For example, Licata noted that his warming center is more accessible for wheelchair users, while he often calls Joe Hartel, the director of the Together Place, when he has a visitor who needs psychiatric or substance use-related services.
Shea Mullaney, the board president for the Together Place, noted that “this proposal will allow unhoused individuals access to a bed, food, one-on-one and group recovery support, monitored bathrooms and resource navigation on the coldest nights.”
Some residents also urged the council to consider more sustainable, long-term solutions for future years.
Former City Councilor Charlie Longo said that while the warming center funding was necessary, he didn’t believe community development block grants were the best funding source, and that the council should think about how to prevent this situation next year
“This is more like treading water or putting a Band-Aid on a wound,” he said.
Correction: A previous version of this story misspelled Katie Coe’s name. It has been updated.