Augusta city officials are working on a proposal to seek a partner to create and run a 30- to 45-bed low-barrier homeless shelter, potentially on two specific spots that the city may seek to have pre-approved for shelters.

Doing so would address one of the main recommendations of the Augusta Task Force on Homelessness.

City councilors recently discussed taking other steps recommended by the task force,including investigating whether to hire a city staffer to oversee city efforts to help people who’re homeless, and in turn help the neighborhoods impacted by them.

Beyond agreeing to have city administrators work up proposals to review before moving forward, many councilors were noncommital over concerns about a lack of funding to create and run a shelter and questions about what a city staffer’s role would be and the best way to help people who are homeless.

Several city councilors said they do not want to commit the city to spending any money on a shelter, but they could agree to the city providing a parcel of land where a homeless shelter could be built and run by an organization not directly funded by the city.

Matt Nazar, city development director, said the city has two parcels that compared to more challenging plots of land in the city could be relatively easy to use for a new homeless shelter.

Those two areas are the basketball court and area around it on Mount Vernon Avenue near the intersection of Bond Street, across the street from a convenience store, and on a portion of what is now Macomber Park on Gage Street.

Mayor Mark O’Brien said discussing those two potential sites before offering them up to would-be shelter agencies would be a good idea, and perhaps even going through the Planning Board process of establishing contract zones at either site, designating a homeless shelter as an allowed use.

Currenty, Nazar said, there are no zones in Augusta where a homeless shelter is a permitted use, but there are eight zones where homeless shelters are a conditional use, which means a shelter could be located there if they meet certain standards, including neighborhood compatibility.

O’Brien said vetting those sites ahead of time could help prevent an agency from submitting a shelter proposal that could then fail to be approved due to zoning and neighborhood concerns.

O’Brien and city councilors said seeing if those sites could work for a homeless shelter and what agencies interested in creating and running a homeless shelter may propose, including how they see it being paid for, could help inform city officials as they struggle with what has been a growing homeless problem over the last several years.

“We can do a (request for proposals) and learn what the appetite is out there for partnerships, and what would be necessary to make something work,” O’Brien said during an Oct. 23 discussion.

He said he’s open to considering multiple sources of funding other than direct city funding out of concern it could raise taxes at the same time the city is undergoing a citywide property revaluation, an often controversial process that could increase some people’s taxes due to increases in their assessed property values.

Nancy Fritz, a member of the since-disbanded Augusta Task Force on Homelessness, who is now chairwoman of a smaller advisory committee formed to ensure the city works to address the recommendations of the task force, urged action, especially with seven months having passed since the recommendations were made.

“This is not intended to be about the council, or mayor, or anyone else. This is about all of us, who call this our home,” Fritz said. “We should all be ashamed that people are sleeping outdoors, and that people are sleeping in cars and people are not getting the healthcare they need and deserve, and they can’t buy food.

“And so it means all of us have to step up. I want to be proud of the place I live. And for me being proud means everybody has a bed to sleep in and can take a warm shower and has food to eat.”

The advisory committee also recommends the city hire someone to oversee the city’s efforts to help people who are homeless.

Earl Kingsbury, director of city services, said he believes the success of any plans to help people who are homeless hinges on the city having someone to manage the issue, and no existing city staff have the capacity and skills to take it on.

He said the position could be funded within the annual city budget, or with funds generated within tax increment financing districts, or the city could explore using some of its opiate settlement funding.

Following a roughly three-hour discussion of the issue, councilors informally agreed to have city staff draft a job description for the proposed new staff position, work up a request for proposals from entities to create and run a homeless shelter or other housing targeting homeless people, and further explore where a homeless shelter could be located in the city, and report back to councilors.

Councilors also agreed homelessness is not just a problem for Augusta, and should be addressed by federal and state officials.