BANGOR — Bangor has announced a new plan to keep the city’s unhoused population safe from the cold this winter.

“The city of Bangor received from Maine DHHS a one-time payback check that’s related to general assistance,” said Jennifer Gunderman, director of Bangor Public Health and Community Services. “What the city of Bangor has decided to do is to allocate some of that funding to support warming shelters in Bangor.”

The funding comes after two of the city’s overnight warming centers announced they would not open, and is meant to “help fill a critical need that the city’s unhoused population is facing,” according to the city’s announcement.

One of the warming shelters that announced a closure, the Brick Church, said they missed out on state funding this year due to an application error. 

“There’s a little bit of anxiety in the whole community, in the whole homeless community,” said Leon Licata, pastor at the Brick Church. “Because we’re all concerned about where people are going to stay for the winter, how we’re going to stay warm. Do I hand out blankets? Do I hand out sleeping bags? That’s something we’ve been struggling with.” 

Meanwhile, the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter had already decided last winter that it would not open its warming shelter, according to the BAHS Executive Director Boyd Kronholm. 

Kronholm said this was partly because they still had empty beds last winter, and they wanted to focus on other housing needs, and partly due to staffing concerns. The BAHS had first opened its warming center in 2018.

“We were the first ones to open a warming center,” said Kronholm. “It was time for us to focus on other areas.”

While they will not open an overnight warming center, Kronholm added that the shelter will be opening five additional beds for the winter.

However, until other new or existing warming centers are announced or funded, Bangor’s Mansion Church is the only spot offering overnight warming space this winter.

“As of right now it’s just us,” said Terry Dinkins, pastor at the Mansion Church. “Last year we had three warming centers, and I think that helped a lot.”

According to Dinkins, the Mansion Church now has room for 50 people in its overnight warming shelter, thanks to a recent renovation.

But, according to Licata, the Brick Church alone houses an average of 65 people during the winter.

“It’s cold in December, January, February. It’s cold. People would get hypothermia,” said Licata. “They would just freeze without us here overnight and no place to go.”

According to the announcement from the city, each proposal may request up to $60,000 in funding. Applications are due by 5 p.m., Oct. 22.

According to the city, the funding is meant to support warming centers that can open as early as Nov. 15, but no later than Dec.1, and stay open through April 30 of next year. That includes nonprofit organizations that may not have had a warming shelter before but have the capability.

It’s just one of multiple efforts to address the issue.

“We have our city outreach person in the wintertime making sure that hand warmers are out, [or if] people need bus tickets to get to a warming shelter or another location,” said Gunderman. “So, warming shelters are a really important piece of the puzzle, but there’s other pieces that we’re also trying to coordinate.”

Visit bangormaine.gov to learn more or to apply.