2019.07.08 Council Agenda Item 07
Summary
Update on the status of recently arrived asylum seekers in Portland.
A public comment period will not be included with this item.
ACTION: Council action is not anticipated.
Description
Thanks to generous donations from the community, at this time all critical health and safety needs have been met at the Expo. The Town of Falmouth has not made any cash contribution to this effort to date. Any discussion of making a cash contribution in the future would be held at a council meeting with opportunity for public input.
If residents would like to make a personal cash contribution, the City of Portland has provided the following list of agencies that are working on this situation and would benefit from assistance. Those agencies are:
- Preble Street Resource Center
- Wayside Soup Kitchen
- Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project
- Salvation Army Northern New England
- The Root Cellar
- Jewish Community Alliance
- Maine Immigrant Rights Coalition
- United Way of Greater Portland
- Mercy Hospital
- Maine Medical Center
The Town of Falmouth has been asked to provide in-kind assistance managing volunteers at the Expo. This would be approximately a full time, two-week commitment. Town staff is currently reaching out to volunteer community leaders to see if any qualified community members are interested in taking this on. Additional updates may be available on this effort at the Council meeting.
Going forward, the next challenge will be to find long-term housing for the approximately 115 families in need. Unfortunately this need coincides with an overall shortage of affordable housing in the Portland area, which will make placement challenging.
To this end, the Greater Portland Council of Governments is working with the faith community to develop a voluntary host program where interested families could be screened, given training, and matched with a family in need as an intermediate housing option. As more information becomes available this program, it will be posted on the town website.