![]() Service referrals may include but are not limited to: Outreach Clinicians and Engagement Specialists engage, assess, and collaboratively develop a recovery-oriented treatment plan that incorporates identified needs and preferences of the person served. There’s real hope.Eliot’s Homeless Outreach begins with the Federal and State funded Project for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness (PATH), which provides person-centered and trauma-informed support services to individuals with serious mental health illnesses, as well as those with co-occurring substance use disorders, who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. “It’s still early, but everyone is committed and they’re hitting the ground running. “I believe the process we’ve set in motion is sustainable beyond two encampments,” Laurie said. Additionally, outreach workers want to determine how they can move people through the shelter system faster. While the group connects with people in Tent City, Laurie said workers are connecting with people living in small encampments as they pop up throughout Bangor.Īfter assisting people living in homeless encampments, Laurie said the group will next determine how it can assist people who are precariously housed, like those living in their vehicle or couch-surfing, Laurie said. ![]() Laurie said the team hasn’t set a deadline for when it would like to have everyone housed and close the encampment. This will help avoid the scramble of trying to house everyone at once. While the workers have been able to identify and connect with people living in Tent City quickly, Laurie said they will likely house a few people at a time. Those organizations include recovery service providers Partners for Peace for those who have experienced domestic violence Preble Street, which caters to veterans in need and Shaw House for youth under 20.įaith-based groups are also working on providing people with “welcome home baskets” that have kitchen items, including a pot, pan and place settings, that people may need.Īnother area agency will provide showers, so anyone who is unhoused can “clean up before going to look at an apartment where they might start their new life,” Laurie said. Other local agencies have offered help to the outreach team after its success at Valley Avenue, Laurie said. This is, in part, due to the fact that some people may be housed outside Bangor if they have connections elsewhere in Maine and would be willing to move there. ![]() Though housing units, especially affordable housing, in Bangor are sparse, Laurie said she believes the group will be able to find housing and housing vouchers for everyone. Maybe today someone talked who wasn’t willing to talk yesterday. “Every day they get a few more folks to engage. “They feel good that so many people are engaging early on and willing to participate,” Laurie said. Laurie said she suspects the group’s success at the Valley Avenue encampment helped build its credibility, increasing the likelihood of people trusting and working with the outreach workers. ![]() So far, the team has connected with more than 40 unhoused people who want to participate and gain housing, double the number willing to work with the outreach team from the Valley Avenue encampment, according to Debbie Laurie, Bangor city manager. That daily work also involves finding who’s in the same household and if anyone owns pets, as that changes a person’s housing options. The first step is identifying who lives in the encampment and connecting with people individually to build trust. The group launched its next mission of housing those living in Tent City this week. With no support, the people would form other encampments elsewhere. Prior to HUD’s intervention, city workers typically cleaned up the encampments and forced people living there to move along. Local outreach workers are trying to duplicate the success they had in housing the people living along Valley Avenue, which marked a turning point in how the city addresses and assists those experiencing homelessness. The federal team guided the local workers through the process of finding housing for 19 of the 20 people who were living in an encampment along Valley Avenue before closing and cleaning up the area last month. ![]()
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