State Street Church in Portland, Maine, makes emergency winter family shelter permanent

State Street Church in Portland has provided overnight emergency shelter for families during the past two winters, when the city’s shelters were full. About a dozen people at a time stayed in the Fireside Room, a gathering space in the parish house at 159 State St. that is named for its large fireplace. Church members converted the room into a temporary shelter with fold-away cots and chairs, and families used the adjacent commercial kitchen to prepare meals.

On Monday, the church will begin its third winter as an overflow shelter for Portland’s family shelter. This year, families will stay in a dedicated space in the basement of the parish house, which has been completely renovated over the last two years. Funded by $450,000 in grants from MaineHousing and the Cora L. Brown Foundation, the purpose-built shelter can house up to 24 people who have nowhere else to go on cold winter nights.

The Rev. Bryan Breault, pastor of the United Church of Christ congregation, described the work in practical terms. “We’re basically keeping people from freezing to death,” he said.

The church will hold an open house Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m., when many of the shelter’s volunteer staff will see the 4,000-square-foot space for the first time. At night, the shelter is staffed by a coalition of 17 faith communities across Greater Portland that help the congregation run it. On Friday morning, several volunteers were finishing preparations, making beds and setting up tables in the Fireside Room, where residents will eat meals. Breault said, “It’s an exciting moment for all of us. We’re going to celebrate this a little bit.”

The shelter is licensed by the city and built to meet modern construction and safety codes. It will operate from mid-November through mid-April, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and residents must leave during the day. It will be open all day Sundays and holidays, a schedule that reflects the practical care of welcoming families in need (Matthew 25:35).

The church first hosted overflow from the city’s family shelter in early 2023, when Portland was struggling to accommodate an influx of asylum seekers from the southern U.S. border. It hosted asylum seekers last winter and expects more to arrive Monday evening. When church members voted unanimously in 2022 to provide emergency shelter, their only requirement was that it serve families who were unhoused during the winter.

City spokesperson Jessica Grondin said the city’s 150-bed family shelter has been at capacity for several years. “The city is always supportive and appreciative of our community partners who help us provide emergency housing,” she said. Although the state funds did not come with a set time frame, Breault said the church intends to operate the winter family shelter as needed for the foreseeable future.

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