Portland Takes Action to Clear Homeless Encampments in Harbor View Memorial Park and Casco Bay Bridge Area

City officials in Portland, Maine, will clear out a large homeless encampment in Harbor View Memorial Park due to health and safety concerns, including tent fires and fatalities. The park is also at risk of being covered in snow spilled from plows clearing the nearby Casco Bay Bridge. Calls for service and overdoses have significantly increased in the area. The city has opened an emergency shelter and has brought in some individuals from the encampment, but many cite a loss of autonomy as the main reason for declining shelter beds. Efforts are being made to encourage access to available shelter beds.