Florence House is a 3 story building in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, United States, named after Florence Young "a social worker who spent more than 20 years working at Preble Street." The building was created to help end

homelessness Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. It includes living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation with family or friends, liv ...

. Florence House is based on the

Housing First Housing First is a policy that offers unconditional, permanent housing as quickly as possible to homeless people, and other supportive services afterward. It was first discussed in the 1990s, and in the following decades became government policy ...

model, a strategy to help move women from homelessness to a permanent supportive home environment. Florence House can house 50 or more former homeless women. The building includes 25 efficiency apartments, a safe-haven area with 15 semi-private spaces and 10 to 25

emergency shelter An emergency shelter is a place for people to live temporarily when they cannot live in their previous residence, similar to homeless shelters. The main difference is that an emergency shelter typically specializes in people fleeing a specific ...

beds The $7.9 million facility was completed on April 6, 2009. It was developed by Preble Street and Avesta Housing and received state and federal funding as well as private contributions. The opening in April, 2009 (five years after the project started) was attended by Maine Governor

John Baldacci John Elias Baldacci (born January 30, 1955) is an American politician who served as the 73rd governor of Maine from 2003 to 2011. A Democratic Party (United States), Democrat, he also served in the United States House of Representatives from 199 ...

Shaun Donovan Shaun Lawrence Sarda Donovan (born January 24, 1966) is an American government official and housing specialist who served as the 15th United States secretary of housing and urban development from 2009 to 2014, and Director of the US Office of M ...

(Secretary of Housing and Urban Development — HUD),Prepared Remarks for Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan at the Florence House Grand Opening
Housing and Urban Development (HUD), June 4, 2010. Senator

Olympia Snowe Olympia Jean Snowe (; born February 21, 1947) is an American businesswoman and politician who was a United States Senate, United States Senator, representing Maine for three terms from 1995 to 2013. A lifelong member of the Republican Party (Unit ...

, Senator

Susan Collins Susan Margaret Collins (born December 7, 1952) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maine. A member of the Republican Party, she has held her seat since 1997 and is Maine's longest-serving member of ...

, Representative

Chellie Pingree Chellie Marie Pingree ( ; born Rochelle Marie Johnson; April 2, 1955) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 2009. Her district includes most of the southern part of the state, centered around the Portland area ...

, and other dignitaries.

References

Sources

Florence House Gives Homeless Women a Second Chance
Maine Insights, August 27, 2010.

External links

Avesta Housing

Preble Street
{{US housing by state Homeless shelters in the United States Organizations based in Portland, Maine Apartment buildings in Portland, Maine 2009 establishments in Maine Organizations established in 2009