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Preble Street wants to convert resource center into homeless shelter


Preble Street officials want to convert their daytime resource center into a 40-bed homeless shelter. (WGME){p}{/p}
Preble Street officials want to convert their daytime resource center into a 40-bed homeless shelter. (WGME)

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PORTLAND (WGME) -- Preble Street officials want to convert their daytime resource center into a 40-bed homeless shelter.

Executive Director Mark Swann says between the pandemic, and with colder weather right around the corner, something needs to be done now.

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“The need is so clearly there,” Swann said. “There’s no denying we need shelter beds in Portland right now.”

Swann wants to transform the resource center into a 40-bed 24/7 shelter.

He says the space is 10,000 square feet, and the project to make it safe would cost $700,000.

Swann says there will be a fence for privacy around the property, and Preble Street will provide meals on site as well.

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“This isn’t the be-all, end-all solution, but we think as a private nonprofit, we think this is a way to support the community’s efforts to keep people safe, not just the clients, but really the community at-large,” Swann said.

The Bayside Neighborhood Association, one of the groups that oppose the project, says they're concerned that all social services are being put in one location.

“Even though they are proposing to have it contained to the shelter, which is definitely the best practice, now they’re also claiming it will have a lower impact on the neighborhood,” Bayside Neighborhood Association President Sarah Michniewicz said.

City officials say it could be a couple months before the planning board goes over the application for the shelter.

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