NEWS & UPDATES
Portland shelters in 'crisis' mode amid new federal guidelines
Portland’s social service providers are scrambling to meet new federal guidelines due to be take effect Monday, saying an already serious situation with homeless shelters in the city is about to get worse. Beginning Nov. 1, changes to federal reimbursement claims for certain facilities that provide refuge for the city’s homeless will force two local
Portland shelter for addicts turns dozens away
Portland shelter for addicts turns dozens away A Portland facility that has long served as an emergency shelter for addicts is now forced to turn dozens away because of federal changes. The Milestone Foundation on India Street had 18 medical beds for clients seeking detox services, as well as 41 emergency shelter beds. But within
Milestone Foundation faces midnight deadline to downsize
PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — As of midnight Tuesday, the Milestone Foundation must downsize its shelter for people with substance abuse issues. That means Monday night it will not be accepting many of it’s shelter regulars. Milestone and other programs were told they would lose federal Medicaid funding if they didn’t cut their beds to
Shelter director: 'Someone could die tonight'
PORTLAND – All Tom Allan could do as workers laid down bed mats on the linoleum floor of a long hallway in the Preble Street Resource Center on Monday night was wait and hope that the people his agency serves would be able to find their way to their new shelter. "I’m not exaggerating when
New Federal Rules Threaten to Push Maine's Homeless Substance Abuse Patients onto Streets
Portland officials say the situation is particularly dire in their city, where the largest of the affected programs, the Milestone Foundation, will have to cut 43 of its 59 beds. The vast majority of their clients are homeless, and will have to go to a city shelter so crowded that overflow space has been needed
As food needs rise, federal funds vanish
People began lining up just after 9 a.m. Thursday outside Preble Street’s food pantry, waiting for the doors to open four hours later. But even as Preble Street, a multi-service agency serving homeless and low-income residents in the Portland area, sees demand rising for its food pantry and three soup kitchens, federal funding that helps
Preble Street planning to move teen shelter
More nights than not, teenagers looking for a place to sleep are turned away from Preble Street’s Lighthouse teen shelter. The teen facility, on Elm Street, can sleep 16 people. But because of limitations with the existing shelter layout, and rules requiring people of different ages and genders to be separated, some kids get turned
Keep Preble Street miracle from disappearing
A cynic might read Dovid Muyderman’s story-turned-screenplay, in which two young Jewish brothers live in a homeless shelter by night and pull straight A’s at Portland High School by day, and scoff that it’s too far-fetched — stuff like that just doesn’t happen out there in the real world. Except it did. "This is eerie,"
Greg Kesich: Poverty in Portland should be top issue in mayoral campaign
The crowds will hit Monument Square today, with people lining up outside farmers’ stalls to pay top dollar for the kind of fresh, ripe produce that you can only dream about the rest of the year. The Wednesday farmers market has become a summer phenomenon, great for the farmers, great for local shops and restaurants,
Federal grant targets homeless veterans in Cumberland County
PORTLAND — The Preble Street Resource Center is accustomed to helping the homeless navigate local and state bureaucracies to get the assistance they need. Much of that help comes through either local general assistance programs, or through the state’s Department of Health and Human Services – systems the center knows well. But there is a
New summer lunch programs open in Maine
83,000 Maine students are eligible for school lunch programs, but in many cases that food is only available during the school year. Now there are 10 new summer lunch programs opening up to help fill the gap. Those programs are opening up in community centers, town parks, and local churches. According to the US Department
Program Provides Hungry Maine Kids With Food in Summer
Some 83,000 Maine children quality for free of reduced school lunches. But what happens to them during the summer break, when schools are out and cafeterias are closed? Well, according to estimates, only 15 percent of qualifying children get summer meals. Today in Portland, anti-hunger groups announced the expansion of efforts in southern Maine to
