Non-profit seeks housing alternatives for residents at Scarborough Comfort Inn
“We do expect that people could become unsheltered because of this.”
“We do expect that people could become unsheltered because of this.”
“We do expect that people could become unsheltered because of this.”
Comfort Inn & Suites in Scarborough has been providing temporary shelter for homeless people since the start of the year.
Scarborough has seen an uptick in police calls to the site and decided not to renew the hotel's innkeeper license. Now, the hotel has decided to return to normal operations in the start of the new year and Scarborough Town Council has approved that transition.
“We do expect that people could become unsheltered because of this," said Mary Cook, the emergency rental assistance program director at Opportunity Alliance.
The hotel is staggering eviction notices so some people will have to leave by Nov. 1 and others will have until the start of December to vacate the property.
Hotels provide homeless people with a safe place to stay while they search for jobs and long-term housing.
“I would say that no one in the hotel wants to be living in a hotel full time," Cook said. "It's really that there's no access to shelter and affordable housing for them to utilize.”
With a shortage of affordable housing stock and at-capacity homeless shelters, sometimes, hotels are the only way for people facing homelessness to get back on their feet.
“I definitely would have had no place to go," said Comfort Inn resident Priscilla Almodovar. "I would have been on the street.”
Almodovar lost her job and apartment at the start of the year. She moved into Comfort Inn in February. Since then, she's been able to secure a job at Goodwill and an apartment in a Portland Housing Authority building with the assistance of social workers at the hotel. She'll be able to move into her new home before her Nov. 1 eviction date.
“I've been so grateful and everyone at the hotel has been helping me out," Almodovar.
For others, the future is less certain. Social workers at Opportunity Alliance continue to search for alternatives for the residents there. In some cases, that could be a relocation to another hotel in the area.
“I think there will be other lodging establishments that may well be in a position to take guests as opposed to concentrating them all at one location," said Scarborough town manager, Tom Hall.
Cook said it's easier to provide resources to people if they're concentrated in one place, but town officials hope the relocations will lead to a decrease in calls to law enforcement.