The city of Portland expects to soon issue a request for qualifications from businesses interested in developing a 200-person homeless shelter in the Riverton neighborhood, and will hold a hearing Tuesday to discuss the project.
The shelter, to be built on vacant, city-owned land at 654 Riverside St., would provide housing, meals, health services, counseling, job assistance and other help for adults experiencing homelessness, and would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There would also be offices, parking and lockers for about 20 staff members.
The facility would replace the Oxford Street Shelter, which is “poorly configured,” according to a city memo, and has long been criticized as inadequate for the increasing number of Mainers in need of services. A new, off-peninsula shelter was first proposed over two years ago.
Portland officials are hoping to find a developer to construct and own the Homeless Service Center, which the city would then lease for up to $1.4 million annually over 20 years.
In June 2019, the Portland City Council approved the creation of the new shelter, and since then has explored various options for funding it.
“We believe this approach will be the fastest and most cost-effective way to establish the much-needed resource and leverage proven public-private partnership tactics, which lead to on-time and on-budget projects,” City Manager Jon Jennings said in the memo.
The council’s Housing and Economic Development Committee is scheduled to discuss the RFQ in a meeting to be held virtually at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, after which the request is expected to be finalized and issued. For more information, click here.
