“I, Angus King, United States Senator of Maine hereby pledge my support… to the work of the Maine Homeless Veteran Action Committee and the system it has developed to ensure homelessness among military veterans is rare, brief, and non-recurring.” Senator Angus King is the latest public official to sign onto the Mayor’s Challenge, a call … Read more
Refusal to expand Maine’s Medicaid program has left many homeless veterans to suffer in shelters and on the street. Maine has the fifth highest per capita population of veterans in the nation, and Medicaid is essential for veterans. Yet we have repeatedly turned our backs. Veterans are more likely to experience homelessness than the overall population, and … Read more
PORTLAND, Maine —A number of formerly homeless veterans now have a place to call home, thanks to a new property in Portland. Thomas Heights held its grand opening celebration Wednesday. The 18-unit affordable housing property is on Washington Avenue. The building was named for Thomas Ptacek, an advocate for homeless veterans. With a shortage in … Read more
PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Formerly homeless veterans are getting a new lease on life thanks to an affordable housing project in Portland. “Thomas Heights” is an 18-unit efficiency apartment building, with five of those units housing previously homeless vets. Avesta Housing was able to complete the $3.6 million dollar project with help from city … Read more
Thomas Heights, an 18-unit building of efficiency apartments intended for low-income and homeless veterans, will have a grand opening Wednesday in Portland. The $3.6 million project at 134 Washington Ave. was led by the nonprofit Avesta Housing, the state’s largest developer of affordable housing. Thomas Heights is named after Thomas Ptacek, a local advocate for … Read more
At first glance, statistics on the number of veterans in Maine who are homeless seem to point to a troubling trend. From 2008 to 2015, the number of homeless identified as veterans jumped 70 percent in Maine, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which annually organizes a census of the country’s … Read more
BANGOR, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Sen. Angus King is speaking out in favor of a bill that would make it easier for homeless college students to find housing. The Low Income Housing Tax Credit gives tax breaks to developers that build affordable housing. The current law does not allow tenants of those properties to be … Read more
On any given night in America, more than 63,000 veterans have nowhere to call home and sleep in shelters, on the streets, in abandoned buildings or in the woods. One of them – a man discharged from the Army in the 1980s – spent much of his adult life homeless, sleeping in his truck, in … Read more
First lady Michelle Obama announced a new commitment to end veteran homelessness. Part of the Joining Forces Initiative, the commitment includes 77 mayors, four governors, and four county officials to end veteran homelessness by 2015. The first lady was introduced by Chris Fuentes, a war veteran who lived in her car briefly after returning from Iraq. Housing … Read more
On Wednesday, Phil Allen, who is the veterans housing service manager for the Portland-based Preble Street Resource Center, discovered a man who had been living in his car for the past four months. The man wasn’t found in Portland. He was found in Oxford Hills as Allen and dozens of other social workers and housing … Read more
