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The Portland City Council on Monday night agreed to study consolidating, expanding and privatizing the city’s Oxford Street Homeless Shelter, currently Maine’s largest and only municipally run shelter. The word "privatizing" often brings to mind situations where governments hand over the management of public institutions to private corporations, under the auspice that the corporations can

Mark Swann, executive director of Preble Street in Portland, said that on any given night the state’s 42 shelters are housing roughly 1,000 Mainers. "We desperately need your help," Swann told lawmakers Monday. "We’re turning people away each night. Shelter directors, I can tell you, we all hold our breath knowing how dangerously understaffed we

AUGUSTA, Maine – Homeless advocates from across the state lined up to support legislation that would provide an additional $3.5 million a year for homeless shelters. Advocates say they’re not sure that additional funding is enough to handle the demands facing 42 shelters across the state that have about 1,000 people a night seeking a

Editor: At 8 p.m. last night it was 12 degrees. And it’s March – not January. Together we’ve experienced one of the longest, most frigid, and snowiest winters in history. I don’t really want to talk about the weather. But I do want each of us to stop for a second and think about a

PORTLAND, Maine – Next week, the city of Portland is expected to submit a formal response to a recent state audit that strongly criticized aspects of its General Assistance program. That response will include a more thorough screening process of homeless shelter residents’ financial assets. The city looks set to adopt a number of proposals

PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — A city committee will consider changes to Portland’s general assistance program after a state audit found violations. The state reimburses all cities and towns for a portion of general assistance spending. Portland includes the operating costs for its emergency shelter, but the state wants the city to bill based on

… Although a few dozen people came to council chambers to listen to the proceedings, only one person spoke during a public comment period. Mark Swann, executive director of the social services provider Preble Street, acknowledged the difficult position the city has been placed in, but urged the councilors to continue Portland’s commitment to serving

A lot of words have already been written in reaction to the "gotcha" revelation by Gov. LePage and Health and Human Services Commissioner Mary Mayhew that some of the chronically homeless in Portland have sizable bank accounts, followed by the city’s attempt to inject reason into the discussion and, finally, the honest and poignant statement

The sound bite was meant to shock and outrage: People with money are staying at a Portland shelter for years at a time, the Department of Health and Human Services said, pointing an angry finger at Portland officials. Gov. Paul LePage has long been at odds with Portland over payments for social services. Now, he