Bangor is trying a different approach to helping people without homes

For the first time, Bangor has hired someone to coordinate the various services in the city designed to help people who are homeless.

In her first few weeks on the job, Jena Jones has done just that.

A person who was recently homeless learned the shelter they once stayed at didn’t have space for them when they were released from a detox center, Jones said. Without a shelter bed available, the person’s only alternative was to stay in an encampment.

To prevent this, Jones spent hours finding housing for the person where they could stay sober. She was ultimately successful.

Jones’ new role as homelessness response manager is one of several permanent positions the city created using a piece of the more than $20 million in pandemic recovery funding Bangor received.

She steps into the role at a time when it’s difficult to get people into permanent housing in the city or efficiently connect them with other help they may need, such as a spot in a shelter or detox center. The challenge became especially apparent during the pandemic as people came to Bangor seeking services that aren’t available elsewhere.

The state of homelessness in Maine is “dire,” Jones said, “but so many pieces of the puzzle that will lead to greater success in helping people on their journey to stable, supportive, permanent housing are already on the table.”

Jones has spent the last several weeks meeting with local organizations that provide services to people who are homeless and ensuring people who are in need know what help is available to them.

“I’m trying to gather information on what providers are seeing in the field and identify any trends, such as whether we’re seeing success with one type of intervention over another,” Jones said.

In the next year, she said one of her goals is to improve data on homelessness in the Bangor region, which would give the city a better understanding of who’s here, what they need, what help is available and where gaps in services are.

When someone who is homeless connects with a shelter or case manager, information about that person — such as their demographics and last known address — is entered into the state’s data management system, called the Homeless Management Information System, Jones said.

However, the data are clumped together in a way that’s difficult to tell what’s happening in Bangor or Penobscot County specifically.

“Currently, it’s difficult to see how people who are unhoused are engaging with the system, even between providers whose services may overlap,” Jones said.

Raised in Norridgewock, Jones moved to Bangor after high school, earned a paramedic license, and worked in ambulance care for nearly a decade before becoming a business development and community relations liaison for Northern Light Home Care and Hospice.

In that role, Jones worked with long-term care facilities as they saw COVID-19 outbreaks during the pandemic and coordinated vaccine clinics for those facilities, as well as schools, community centers, jails and more.

Those experiences, Jones said, revealed how some people encounter barriers to accessing care, and she wanted to improve those systems. This led her to become the policy and advocacy director for the Maine Council on Aging.

For the past two years, Jones worked in Augusta to improve how older adults, people with behavioral health needs, and people with physical and intellectual disabilities access care.