I have never been on the street, but I’ve been down and out. Somewhere in my misguided youth, I bought into the romantic (to me) notion of the starving artist. I thought occasionally sleeping on trains or in my car was necessary to my education as a writer. An easy notion to entertain when each time I dragged myself back to Maine, broke and homeless, my family patiently bailed me out.
In 1990, after three years of bumming around San Francisco and Boston, I once again limped home. As I couch surfed my way around Portland, my brother quietly pulled me aside at a family function and handed me a check – enough to cover the first and last month’s rent. “You need a home,” he said.
As I got to know my town again, I couldn’t believe homelessness had become a thing here. I was used to it in larger cities, but in my Portland? One morning I wandered into a church basement, was handed a spoon and told to take over stirring the oatmeal. That basement was on Preble Street, and the person who handed me the spoon was Mark Swann. I have been a friend and supporter of Preble Street ever since.
A lot has changed at Preble Street since that morning. It now serves all of Maine with over a dozen programs and 250 staff. Central to its mission has always been coordinating hunger relief with health care and social services, and, ultimately, a transition to permanent housing.
Preble Street has proposed to convert its day center at 5 Portland St. into a 40-bed shelter, targeting those who cannot or – for myriad reasons – do not access city shelters. It will replicate the same safety practices it successfully implemented last spring at its temporary Sullivan Wellness Center at the University of Southern Maine. Preble Street is not requesting any city funds. The building is already zoned to allow for emergency shelter. With the city’s approval, construction could begin immediately and potentially start housing people in a matter of weeks.
Yet, progress is currently in limbo. The Planning Board held a workshop Oct. 20, but instead of moving the proposal forward to a public hearing and a vote, the board requested a second workshop, which will take place Dec. 8.
Clearly, calls for urgency are not being heard.
There is resistance to the shelter. The homeless situation can be chaotic, messy and, yes, disruptive to area residents and businesses. But let us not forget the humans who make up what we call a “situation.” Sure, some made bad choices. But just as many have had misfortune – illness, job loss, an accident – rain down on them through no fault of their own. Regardless, they are our neighbors, and each one of them has dreams and desires and demons, just like the rest of us. And while easy solutions are few, one – providing beds to 40 of the most vulnerable during this crisis – is right at our fingertips.
I rarely see a person on the street without thinking, “That could’ve been me.” The only difference is that when I danced too close to the edge, someone always pulled me back. Even playing at poverty takes a toll on the soul. You quickly learn the fine line between fragility and stability, and how quickly one can slip.
The pandemic is raging. Winter is coming. The need for shelter will only intensify as unemployment runs out and evictions increase. Beds are needed now. Lives are at stake. Preble Street has a solution ready to launch. It only needs the city’s OK.
Please contact the Planning Board at planningboard@portlandmaine.gov before Dec. 8 and let them know that everyone deserves a home.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
