The Portland City Council will decide Monday whether to extend an emergency declaration allowing the city to offer more beds at its homeless shelter.

The council last year enacted a state of limited emergency at the city’s Homeless Services Center at 654 Riverside St. The center, which opened in March 2023, was quickly filled to its 208-bed capacity.  

The emergency declaration allowed the center to expand, adding another 50 beds.  

At the time, the council cited factors including an influx of asylum-seekers and an ending of federal funding earmarked for helping area homeless stay housed in local hotels.

At its meeting Monday, the council will address whether to extend the emergency to June 3, allowing the center to keep offering the additional 50 beds. 

“Due to the success and positive impacts seen with the bed increase, it is staff’s recommendation that the HSC’s 50 bed increase be extended,” officials wrote in a statement.

The council has been discussing sweeps of homeless camps on city property since November of 2023. So far, the council has not paused the sweeps.  

According to the city’s tracking software of known homeless camps, there were 41 tents throughout the city as of 10:30 a.m. Monday. Of those, nine were on city property, and seven were on state property. The rest were on private property.

The council is also expected to consider a proposal to start a pilot program, Housing Opportunities for People in Encampments. The one-year program would be a collaboration between the city and MaineHousing.  

It would help with finding permanent housing for up to 90 people, with a goal of finding stable housing for at least half of those individuals.

“As a city-led collaboration designed to meet and serve unsheltered individuals where they are, the HOPE program will be a new, crucial strategy in addressing homelessness in our city, and among our residents,” City Manager Danielle West said. “I’m excited that our work is now evolving to move people into housing opportunities and stably house them.”

The council will also consider accepting $364,000 from MaineHousing to operate the city’s resettlement program for the next 12 months.  

The program specifically works with asylum seekers to help them find housing resources and related benefits. The program was funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency until December 2023, when the agency restricted its funding.