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LEWISTON — The last three asylum-seeking families housed at the Ramada by Wyndham Lewiston Hotel and Conference Center will be moved this week to a motel in Portland.

Portland Communications and Digital Services Director Jessica Grondin did not disclose the name or location of the motel, which is used by the city for general assistance, she said in an email.

Portland moved about 20 families from the Portland Expo into 23 rooms at the Ramada on Pleasant Street in mid-August. Several other families from the Expo were sent to Casco Bay Inn in Freeport.

Roughly 60 families in all were moved from the Expo to Lewiston and Freeport.

Initially the city had until Nov. 1 to find other housing for the asylum seekers because Lewiston was considering buying the hotel by Nov. 1 to use as housing, but that plan did not get approved.

Officials at the Ramada did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the future of the hotel.

The other families at the Ramada moved to the Freeport hotel as space became available, according to Grondin. From there, they will be moved into family shelter units as those spaces become available, then move into more long-term housing.

Kendra Caruso is a staff writer at the Sun Journal covering education and health. She graduated from the University of Maine with a degree in journalism in 2019 and started working for the Sun Journal...