The Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter in Waterville, which provides housing assistance, job opportunities, and other aid 24 hours a day, is the state’s only low-barrier shelter between Portland and Bangor. Unlike conventional shelters, low-barrier facilities extend refuge to individuals regardless of their sobriety or mental health status, prioritizing immediate sanctuary and basic needs for those experiencing homelessness.
Post-pandemic, the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter became a low-barrier shelter to meet the evolving needs of individuals experiencing homelessness in the wake of the pandemic. However, as the homeless crisis in Waterville continues to worsen, the financial burden of operating a low-barrier shelter becomes a pressing concern. The homeless crisis in Waterville has been exacerbated by the city’s recent crackdown on homeless encampments, including the clearance of tents from the park along the Kennebec River, a location that has long been at the center of Waterville’s homelessness discourse.
“Theoretically, we don’t have a problem with the camping ban,” Katie Spencer White, Chief Executive Officer and president of Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter said. “But when you have camping bans for people who have no other place to sleep safely at night, we have to combine with that camping ban and propose an alternative place to go.”
After the city began clearing the downtown encampments in late February, some of the residents relocated to a spot in the woods near Interstate 95, where clumps of tents became homes for people displaced by the Waterville camping ban. In October, city officials considered buying yurts to provide temporary shelter for people living at Head of Falls. However, by February, the tents at the park had been cleared, and their residents were threatened with arrest. At the same time, officials at the city’s main shelter say it has been pushed beyond capacity and is struggling to keep its doors open.
“Each bed that we operate costs $100. But the vast majority of our work is unfunded, because currently, for those year-round beds, we get about $23 per day, so we somehow have to cobble together the rest of the $100,” White explained. Her organization is experiencing considerable strain because of the insufficient resources in central Maine, compounded by Waterville’s efforts to relocate individuals into shelters.
Though funding for shelters was provided by state legislation in 2017, the federal dollars from this have been used up for the shelter White claimed. “And as every other shelter in the state,” she said, “we can’t operate in 2024 on 2017 funding; the math doesn’t math.”
While the shelter has become a key aspect of the city’s response to homelessness, it has significantly exceeded capacity for the entire winter — and risks closing without more help from city and state government. Unlike ambulances and hospitals, which can charge patients for services, shelters like the Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter can’t charge those experiencing homelessness. As a result the shelter in Waterville, and most across the state, rely largely on community donations and local governments to keep its doors open.
“It’s not that we’re overcrowded, it’s that we’re underfunded. We’re out of money. The need has not gone away; the funding has,” White said. “We’re lacking a city-wide strategy to work together, and right now we’re the only ones doing the heavy-lifting, and that’s the problem.”
Nonetheless, White explained she has big ideas on how to partner with Colby students. With the coming election in November, by January, the state will be heading into a new legislative session, and she says the state needs a regional strategy on how to target resources and work together. “One thing I would like to do is teach a JanPlan course on homeless policy. Then we could segway right from a JanPlan class into a massive advocacy team.”
White believes the students at Colby and neighboring schools have the capacity to build a system that could potentially create a space for massive change. Doris Simpkins, ’26, who was asked what she thought of this potential JanPlan course on homeless policy, highlighted a crucial point: “I think a good amount of the student population come from very wealthy backgrounds where they may have never seen homelessness first-hand. They may be unaware of how big of an issue it is, and this course could give them the room to expand their knowledge.” Simpkins agreed with White that active student engagement in community issues would contribute to positive change, and added that the course would allow students to engage in discussions about fundamental societal issues.
Waterville’s approach to addressing homelessness has reached an inflection point, and the fate of Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter hangs in the balance. With the crisis intensifying, the need for a more comprehensive and productive solution has never been more urgent.
~ Josefina Moehn-Aguayo `26
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