Micmacs withdraw eviction order Chief seeks ‘right resolution’ that helps both tribe, Homeless Services

PRESQUE ISLE – The Aroostook Band of Micmac Indians has rescinded an order for Homeless Services of Aroostook to vacate eight housing units at the former U.S. Air Force Bon Aire housing project by July 15.

In a letter dated June 12, William Phillips, the Micmac’s chief, wrote to Donna Rasche, HSA executive director, that “we have no desire to harm the residents of your shelter or stop the important work that your organization is doing. We believe that the right resolution in this situation is one that helps both parties and does not penalize one over the other.”

Homeless Services has 22 residents, and another family will be moving in by week’s end, Rasche said Wednesday. Some of the families are Micmac.

Residents in the HSA program are allowed to live in the units for up to two years, during which time they agree to improve their job situation or go back to school.

The tribe, which legally owns the eight transitional units in question, leases them to the agency.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, which holds the property in trust for the tribe, ruled last month that a lease with the HSA allowing it to use the units until 2036 became void when the property was transferred in 1999 from the U.S. Air Force to the Department of Interior and the BIA. Only the original five-year lease that expired in May 2001 was valid.

Facing a severe housing shortage of its own, the tribe was seeking to utilize the HAS units for its own members.

The tribe’s Indian Health Services has determined that as much as 70 percent of the 850 Micmac people in The County live in substandard housing, and from time to time, some of those people are homeless.

Phillips pointed out in his letter that finding housing for nontribal homeless people should be the responsibility of the city of Presque Isle and the state.

“It should not be the responsibility of the tribe to sacrifice its much-needed resources in order to support the shelter,” Phillips wrote.

Still, with the goal of both agencies the same, and a desire not to pit “two economically disadvantaged groups against each other …,” Phillips wrote that “we should endeavor to focus our attention on getting resources to those that truly need it and to fixing the deplorable housing situation that currently exists for tribal members and nonmembers alike.”

Phillips could not be reached Wednesday for comment.

Rasche said she wasn’t sure what prompted the decision not to evict HSA, but she said her meeting last week with Phillips was very positive.

“We had some really good conversations,” she said.

A memorandum of understanding is being developed, she said, that will outline a cooperative role between both groups to help all homeless people in the region and resolve the housing dispute amicably.

She said plans also are being discussed for a new lease between the two parties.

“It’s a much better relationship than fighting in court,” she said. “We can focus on what needs to be done.”