Shawn Stanford builds a fire Oct. 10 near the door to the tent he shared with his girlfriend, Amanda Frasier, at a homeless encampment in Waterville. Michael G. Seamans/Morning Sentinel
Over the course of several months, Morning Sentinel photographer Michael G. Seamans captured images of people living at a homeless encampment along the Kennebec River, and came to learn his assumptions about them were wrong.
Morning Sentinel photographer Michael G. Seamans captured the photographic journey of homeless people living at an encampment in Waterville, some of whom also work jobs, over the past several months. All photos are by Seamans.
While officials sit around tables discussing what to do, the homeless are living it. These are people who, for whatever reason, are now living on the street, are desperate for warmth, food and safety. The same things we all want. The things we all should have, but don’t.
Local advocates say the number of adults, families and children experiencing homelessness has rapidly increased in the last year as Maine’s housing crisis persists.
There are more people in search of places to live than available units. As demand has grown, so too have prices and evictions.
Homelessness comes in all forms. There are those who are widely visible, living in camps and walking the streets of downtown Lewiston and Auburn with all of their possessions in hand.
But more often, people, especially families, struggle with homelessness quietly, away from the public eye. They stay with friends and family, live in hotels or create unconventional shelters – anything which puts a roof over their children’s heads.
The Sun Journal spoke with three homeless families in Lewiston-Auburn to share their stories of heartache and resilience.
One family lives in a retrofitted school bus. Another spends each night in a shelter. The third has moved half a dozen times in the past 16 months.
Among all the challenges of being homeless, the inability to cook their own meal and enjoy it together might seem small. But for the tight-knit family, it's everything.
Arthur Murray, left, and Christopher Larochelle find shelter from the rain and snow in November in the foyer of a business on Lisbon Street in Lewiston. Murray "couch surfs" with friends most nights while Larochelle moves from town to town. "I have a place I built in Poland, but there are people squatting there that are worse off than me so I'm just working wherever I can and doing what I can to get by" he said with a smile. Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal
“There was ice forming on the inside of our tent and when it would snow, we’d have to sleep in shifts so we could go out and shovel snow off the tent, so it wouldn’t collapse on us.”
Those words come from a 30-year-old homeless woman in Lewiston, who has been living in a tent and on the streets for four years. She’s among thousands of homeless people in Maine who need shelter as the harsh winter months get underway. Federal estimates earlier this year recorded the highest number ever of homeless people in the state — 3,455 — even as officials acknowledge the numbers are underreported and escalating costs are increasing the number of vulnerable Mainers.
The Sun Journal, Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel examine the causes, impacts and solutions to homelessness in Maine with an occasional series over the winter months. In the first installment, we look at how homelessness is visible in our central Maine communities amid the rising number of people without a stable home.
Escalating costs for housing, food and fuel have officials especially concerned as cold weather sets in and as estimates grow for people unable to find stable housing.
Steven York, 59, is living in Bread of Life Ministries' Veterans Shelter in Augusta and works five days a week at Veterans Affairs Medical and Regional Office Center at Togus.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has provided data since 2007, based on estimates from service providers who seek to count people in homeless shelter, people in communities without shelter and more considerations.
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