A local entrepreneur from Portland, Maine, hit the headlines after coming up with an unorthodox, yet brilliant, idea that could help thousands of homeless people in the city off the streets.
The entrepreneur in question, Ken Capron, firmly believes that his idea is the solution to dealing with the city’s large population of homeless.
Capron plans on buying an old, abandoned cruise ship and transform it into a shelter for the homeless. He also plans on permanently docking the cruise ship in the city’s harbor.
According to the entrepreneur, moving the homeless from the streets and providing them with shelter would not only help them but also create an entirely different image of the city. Besides the homeless, he also plans on helping immigrants and low-income families and provide them with onboard job training.
“We’re looking at four populations: the homeless population, the low-income population, the workforce population and immigrant population who all need housing. They all need job skills training. We would offer that on board,” Capron explained.
The mayor responded to the ambitious man’s idea with opened hands even though many details still need to be worked out, in particular, who would finance the entire project.
“I have no idea if it’s the craziest idea I’ve ever heard, or the most brilliant idea I’ve ever heard, but what I like about it is that he’s coming up with creative ways to figure out how to build housing in the city of Portland,” Ethan Strimling, the mayor, said.
“There’s tons of hurdles that anyone would have to overcome to do this, but once again, I need housing. If people want to bring crazy, creative far-fetched ideas to me, I’m happy to hear them out,” the mayor added.
In short, the homeless housing a.k.a. the abandoned cruise ship would be repurposed and split into five decks. Each of the decks would offer over one hundred housing units that would offer plenty of room even for entire families.
“It’s a creative idea,” the entrepreneur said. “This is a solution to so many problems.”
While there are plenty of obvious challenges that will have to be overcome along the way, Capron has already applied for a grant for his project called Hope Harbor. If he gets approved, he will use the funds to run an independent feasibility study.
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