South Portland officials are working on a plan with hotels in the city that have been operating as temporary homeless shelters to cease those operations.

“The city is in discussions with all hotel operators, including those that have been functioning in whole or in part as de facto shelters,” the city said in a statement sent in response to a Forecaster inquiry this week. “The aim is to come to a mutually agreed-upon arrangement and timeline for all hotels to return to the use allowed under their license/city ordinance.”

No further details were provided. City Manager Scott Morelli could not be reached for comment.

Some of South Portland’s hotels began operating as temporary shelters at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as homeless shelters in Portland dealt with social distancing regulations, forcing many who were normally sheltered there onto the streets. An influx of asylum seekers and immigrants in 2021 created even more demand for hotels to take on unhoused clients.

A high volume of emergency services calls to some of the hotel shelters eventually overwhelmed the city’s police and fire departments. Two of the city’s hotels, Comfort Inn and Days Inn, made an agreement with the city to stop filling vacant rooms beginning in January, and not to enter into any contracts with housing agencies or organizations that would place clients there after Feb. 28.

With state and federal funding running dry, South Portland taxpayers may need to take on the burden of housing and providing services if the hotel-shelter model is to continue, city staff said at a City Council workshop on Tuesday. The council is considering zoning amendments that would permit homeless shelters to be built in the city in an effort to stem those costs.