A local developer planning to create specialized housing for chronically homeless people in the city’s Bayside neighborhood is collaborating with another developer who would build affordable and market-rate apartments as part of the same project, for a total of 123 units.

The proposed project, a collaboration between Avesta Housing and Reveler Development, would total three adjacent buildings on Cedar, Lancaster and Oxford streets at the site of the former Oxford Street Shelter.

Avesta would build its units based on a housing-first model, designed to prevent chronic homelessness by providing permanent, stable housing opportunities with on-site support services, and without sobriety and other requirements that keep some people out of homeless shelters.

“Portland has grappled with the challenges of homelessness now for several years. Housing first is considered the gold standard for addressing chronic homelessness,” said Ryan Fecteau, Avesta’s senior officer of policy and planning and former speaker of the Maine House of Representatives. “The affordable housing side helps us address some of these challenges, as well as Reveler’s market-rate housing, because the need for housing runs across the board for all income levels.”

But at a public hearing before the planning board Tuesday, many Bayside residents raised concerns about the impact that a housing project for chronically homeless people would have on the neighborhood’s quality of life, safety, and the well-being of other vulnerable populations and the chronically homeless people the project is looking to serve.

COMPLEX HOUSING

The project would offer housing with on-site services provided by Preble Street, including substance use counseling and support services like coaching on how to live independently and manage money. Because it would be permanent housing, residents wouldn’t have to deal with the same restrictions that go with staying in a homeless shelter overnight, and wouldn’t have to leave in the morning with their belongings.

“One of the greatest things about Housing First is that for the first time in perhaps a long time, these folks can have a sense of dignity and a space of their own,” Fecteau said. “That’s their home, it’s where they live and it’s where, in many cases, folks will pass on.”

Avesta would first demolish the former Oxford Street Shelter, at 197 Oxford St. The new building would be divided into two subsections: The housing-first segment would have studios with a kitchen and bathroom, and be manned by staff at a front desk who would track visitors and, in some cases, protect tenants from unwanted ones. The affordable housing segment would include a combination of studios and one-bedrooms.

Tenants with housing-first units wouldn’t have to pay more than 30% of their income, which could either come from employment or disability benefits. In some cases, rent would be completely covered by vouchers from the Portland Housing Authority, Fecteau said.

Fecteau said the location is also important because it provides better access to bus stops and other transportation, local employment opportunities and downtown Portland. The property is also down the street from the headquarters for Avesta Housing and Preble Street.

The housing would be owned by Reveler, a Portland-based developer that builds and manages multi-family and mixed-use developments.

When the project was formally proposed to the planning board in April, it was presented as a collaboration between Avesta and Reveler.

The proposed project includes three buildings. Avesta would be in charge of the housing-first building, which would have 28 units where residents could stay permanently, and an additional 20 affordable units in the same building. Reveler would be in charge of developing 50 Cedar St. into 24 market-rate residential units. And at 158 Lancaster St., Reveler would develop another 51 market-rate units.

Development would also include improvements such as a water main replacement, planting new trees, new bike racks and sidewalks, and decorative lighting, developers say.

Fecteau said that collaboration between Avesta and Reveler – and the variety of housing types they would build – would foster a socioeconomically diverse environment.

“The affordable housing side helps us address some of these challenges, as well as Reveler’s market-rate housing. The need for housing runs across the board for all income levels,” Fecteau said. “We are striving for equity and being able to have people from all backgrounds and all walks of life living in community.”

Some, however, worry that Bayside is not the right place for this project.

CONCERNED NEIGHBORS

Public comment lasted over 45 minutes during the workshop, with another 16 people submitting written testimony. Many aren’t happy that Avesta and Reveler have selected Oxford Street as the affordable housing building’s home base.

Some raised concerns that safety issues will arise in a neighborhood they already feel is unsafe. Some feel calls for emergency services will rise. Others feel the rates of drug usage in the neighborhood will increase.

“Yes, we need it, but not in Bayside,” Christine Arsenault told the board.

Avery Kamila feels that the location of Avesta’s project would negatively impact other vulnerable populations in the area, including the chronically homeless people Avesta is trying to house.

“It will negatively impact housing-first clients by concentrating them adjacent to the existing drug dealing and human-taking place on Oxford and Preble in the adjacent triangle around Elena’s Way,” she said.

Fecteau said that Avesta and Preble have spoken with residents and weighed these concerns from the start. Avesta faced similar opposition when creating housing-first sites at Huston Commons, Florence House and Logan Place, all in Portland, Fecteau said.

Brittney Dunham, senior director of social work at Preble Street, said that in her three years as director, Huston Commons staff and nearby neighbors very rarely called 911. When 911 is called, Dunham said, it’s most often for medical emergencies because chronic homelessness often causes chronic illnesses that go untreated.

At the Florence House, Avesta and Preble Street have also seen chronically homeless people in housing-first units successfully coexist with people staying in an adjacent shelter, Fecteau said.

“We certainly wouldn’t have chosen to proceed with this project if we thought that folks were going to be put in a position to fail,” Fecteau said.

Not all were opposed, however. Religious leaders, homeless advocates, some Bayside locals and public safety officials have attested to the power of providing permanent housing for one of Maine’s most vulnerable populations.

Mike Sauschuck, the commissioner of Maine’s Department of Public Safety, said he’s witnessed the power of housing-first housing firsthand.

“These programs are viewed locally as bastions of hope and not hot spots of crime,” he said. “They serve as success stories where some of our most vulnerable are given the hand up they need to move beyond a survival-based existence focused on the next bathroom break, meal or long, cold night so they can live happier, healthier and more productive lives.”

The proposal will go before the Portland Planning Board in a second workshop.

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