National, state and local elected leaders gathered in Portland today to celebrate the opening of Florence House, a permanent housing facility for homeless women. Its construction was prompted by a sharp rise in homelessness in the city, and officials say it’s a more effective model than emergency overnight shelters. The women at Florence House range … Read more
There are a lot of factors that work together to make someone chronically homeless. Someone may have a mental illness, a physical disability or addiction to alcohol or drugs. But the undeniable common factor is that they don’t have a home. For a group of women who have been long-term homeless residents of the city, … Read more
PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Advocates for the homeless are excited about the opening of a new permanent home set to open to serve the needs of homeless women in Portland. Florence House, a collaboration between Avesta Housing and the Preble Street Resource Center, took five year to plan and build and cost nearly $8 … Read more
PORTLAND – For the past three years, the closest thing to home for Shellie Duncan has been a folding cot in a corner of the community room at Preble Street, a social service agency in downtown Portland. And that was a step up from her previous “home,” a floor mat at the city’s Oxford Street … Read more
There’s a revolution afoot to solve homelessness in America. Portland, Maine, is helping to lead the charge. How’s this for an idea: Find the thirty bleakest street cases in the city – the least loved of God’s creatures, the ones cops know by name. The ones purpled with scars, napping under loading docks, towing barges … Read more
FREEPORT(NEWS CENTER) — Hundreds of people showed up Saturday for the grand opening of the new LL Bean Home Store in Freeport. Melissa Zuk said she got to the store at 9 p.m. and was first in line for the opening. The incentive? The store was giving away gift cards to the first 500 customers. … Read more
Ask a dozen Mainers what they want as a holiday gift, and you’ll get a dozen different answers, right? Well, not this year. In this season of hope, we asked a wide variety of Mainers – a sheep farmer, a museum director, a member of Congress and others – what they would put at the … Read more
PORTLAND-Huddled in the freezing cold in a dark alleyway the 25 or so people who stood on a barren, snow-covered parking lot could have been mistaken for a gathering of homeless people. Instead, the group of homeless advocates, which included Gov. John Baldacci, spent a few minutes Tuesday night reflecting on their four-year-long effort to … Read more
