With mixed reviews, Bangor hotel to end run as homeless shelter in September
Though advocates say using hotels as transition housing helps homeless people find long-term places to live, Bangor city officials say they do not favor using this option as a way to help reduce the city’s growing homeless population.
That’s why the city does not object to the Ramada Inn on Odlin Road reverting to being a normal hotel again in September, when federal pandemic funding to house homeless people there runs out. The hotel has been used exclusively as a homeless shelter since last fall to help protect residents from being exposed to COVID-19.
Dan Tremble, chairman of Bangor City Council, said that despite Bangor’s growing homeless population, he doesn’t think using hotels as homeless shelters is “the way to go” in Bangor.
He acknowledged that the privacy offered by hotels, where residents have their own bedrooms and bathrooms, can help with getting homeless people on the path to long-term housing. Advocates for the homeless — sometimes called “houseless” — say that the discomforts of congregant living, in which residents have to share such spaces with one another, sometimes discourages homeless people from getting assistance.
Read more: https://bangordailynews.com/2021/07/19/news/bangor/with-mixed-reviews-bangor-hotel-to-end-run-as-homeless-shelter-in-september/