Jennifer Libby is homeless right now and doesn’t know where to turn to get her and her two young children a temporary place to stay in Westbrook.

Libby, 25, left her Section 8 apartment three months ago to start fresh in Presque Isle, but things didn’t work out up there and she’s back, without a place to live. Right now she and her kids are bouncing from place to place, relying on friends and family to keep a roof over their heads until she can scrape some money together and find an apartment. Libby doesn’t want to leave Westbrook, but the city’s services for the homeless aren’t leaving her much choice.

Libby and her children are one of about a dozen families that are homeless in Westbrook at any one time. The city doesn’t have a shelter and no longer puts families up in hotels until they can get back on their feet, which is extremely expensive according to the city administration. Instead, the services the city offers are geared more towards providing extra help for food and utilities for families who can afford their rent but not much more. Temporary shelter just isn’t available.

According to Westbrook Police Chief Paul McCarthy, there are a number of people who panhandle near the highway from time to time, and there are several campsites around town that are used throughout the year. Those are the noticeable homeless, but there are others as well, he said, sleeping in their cars and going to Portland when it gets cold.

RenA?© Daniel, Westbrook Housing Authority’s representative for general assistance, said besides an unknown number of individuals who are homeless in Westbrook, there are also a dozen or so families, many of which are like the Libbys-single parents struggling with children.

For many of these families, their homeless status is temporary, but the city’s general assistance program isn’t tailored to helping people for short periods, according to Daniel. Most of his clients-about 800 individuals and families in Westbrook-are working-class families that come to him for a little extra for utilities and food and clothes, he said.

General assistance was formed as the last possible catch net before becoming homeless, said Daniel, but it’s not designed as a temporary solution. There’s a lot of hoops to jump through to apply for it, and on average it takes weeks to receive aid, he said.

“There’s no quick fix in general assistance,” said Daniel. “(And) the days of cities and towns putting people up in hotels is over,” a fairly common practice in years past but a trend not common today in Westbrook or elsewhere.

“It’s a very expensive way of dealing with a short-term emergency,” said City Administrator Jerre Bryant of the practice. Bryant said that eliminating the practice was not specifically part of Mayor Bruce Chuluda’s effort to trim the city’s budget after taking office, but rather it made fiscal sense for the city.

Libby said general assistance couldn’t get her into an apartment or put her up in a hotel with her two kids-Alexis Ouellette, 2, and Trevor Libby, 5. What the program could do was help her with rent, utilities and food if she was able to find an apartment-a difficult task for her right now with no job and only about $600 per month coming in aid from the state. Her other option is to go to Portland, but she doesn’t want to go to Portland because Westbrook is her home and her son is in school here. “Westbrook is a great town, but they just need some more help for us,” she said.

Beyond general assistance, the aid available in Westbrook comes in the form of food or clothing, not shelter. The Westbrook Food Pantry, run by Jeannie Rielly, routinely serves upwards of 200 families each month. The Salvation Army also provides help, along with the St. Anthony’s Parish through the St. Vincent de Paul clothing and household item pantry.

“People don’t understand how many people are in need,” said Daniel.

One of Libby’s friends, Fredette Brown, is in a similar situation as Libby-homeless with two kids-after having to leave her mother’s home for personal reasons a week and a half ago. She said Westbrook couldn’t put her up at a hotel and she’s currently trying to find help from Portland, hoping to get into the Portland Family Shelter. Her two daughters, Nadia and Alexandra, nine and seven respectively, are in Westbrook schools, but she doesn’t have any option but move them.

In the meantime, she and her kids have bounced from friends to hotels. “As of today, I don’t have a place to stay,” said Brown on Tuesday. Brown said she even went to the shelter on Preble Street in Portland, which she said is no place to take kids. She said the workers there looked at her like she was crazy bringing them there and referred her to the Family Shelter. “When you’re homeless with kids, you want them to be as comfortable as they can be,” said Brown.

Beyond Portland, the places to get help in the state of Maine are centered in the larger towns of Portland, Bangor and Lewiston. No other towns in the Greater Portland area besides Portland have family shelters.

“A shelter would help because it would allow immediate assistance to families,” said Daniel. “To have a roof over their head is what they need.”

Daniel said the shelter wouldn’t even have to be limited to Westbrook, but the city could cooperate with neighboring communities to form one. According to Bryant, the city hasn’t looked at the option of the shelter in recent years.

“But if we’re not meeting a need in Westbrook, we need to look at ways to do it,” said Bryant.