ALFRED – Joanne Goodreau has been a resident at the York County Shelter Program since November 2024.

But that will change for Goodreau, 62, and 36 other residents of the homeless shelter on Friday at noon when the shelter, which has been in operation since 1980, will close.

Asked if she knew where she was going to go, Goodreau said: “Nope, none of us do. We’re all kind of nervous and anxious about it, and a little perplexed.”

The program’s board of directors announced Friday that the shelter was closing due to a lack of funding. 

“The board searched for many months to find financial and operational solutions, but ultimately made the difficult decision that YCSP is no longer able to meet its obligations to clients, staff, or the community,” the board wrote in its announcement.

The shelter is known for being virtually the only one catering to the county at large.  

In a typical year, it serves approximately 650 men, women and children in the county.

There are few other options for emergency overnight shelters, aside from Seeds of Hope in Biddeford and a smaller shelter on Layman Way in Alfred. Right now, York County officials are working on replacing that shelter with a new 58-bed overnight emergency shelter and detox center development project in the same area. Previous interviews with county officials, however, indicated it is unlikely that shelter will be able to open before the end of 2025.

According to the board’s statement, the shelter has struggled to maintain a $5 million annual operating budget, often needing to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars beyond what funding is allocated by the state.

Kelli Deveaux, a spokesperson for the board, said even with generous grants from private donors, it’s been harder and harder in recent years to break even. On Monday, Deveaux said the board spent the weekend speaking with various other social service agencies and organizations in York County.  

The hope, she said, is to find a partnership or similar arrangement that will allow the shelter to remain open.

“We continue to look for a solution or a way forward with the organization,” she said.

On May 1, according to the statement, the program laid off 20 staff members.  

Goodreau said she and her fellow residents were notified that same day that the shelter was closing, and that they had to be out by noon on Friday, May 9.

The program’s statement indicated it was working with other agencies in York County to try to find alternative housing for the residents, but on Friday Goodreau said no one had approached her or any other resident to explain options.

Some of the residents, Goodreau said, are elderly, sick, or confined to a wheelchair.

“It’s a shocker, we weren’t expecting it,” she said. 

On Monday, Deveaux said the shelter’s staff are working to find alternative housing for the residents and vowed to find a place for everyone before the Friday deadline.

“We really are looking for other ways to stretch that as long as we can to ensure that we leave no client that doesn’t have a plan in place,” she said.

Deveaux said the organization is still accepting donations at York County Shelter Programs, P. O. Box 72, Sanford, ME 04073.