Re: “Maine Voices: Portland should stop stalling on new wellness shelter” (Nov. 27):

Preble Street proposes yet another shelter in Bayside. Their justifications amount to simplistic emotional appeals – winter is cold, an option exists; therefore, this exact proposition is a moral imperative.

But crucial questions remain whether they can produce a valid management plan satisfying code. Portland’s Planning Board rightly asked for additional information where the submission was inadequate, also requesting more collaboration with the city (which coordinates outreach among 16 providers, and continues to offer hotels when existing shelters overflow).

The Planning Board “implements and ensures consistency with Portland’s Comprehensive Plan,” which requires equity in sharing costs and benefits across the city. The vast majority of Maine’s homeless services had previously been gerrymandered into Bayside, segregating the state’s lowest socioeconomic bracket into a single “skid row.”

So why this particular location, shoehorned in between several other shelters grandfathered in illegal zones? How would this project coordinate with the Statewide Homeless Council, which is deliberately outlining local and regional solutions throughout the state? Why a new adult shelter, when municipal ordinance calls for partners to aid subpopulations with unique needs? Why a permanent shelter in response to a virus with vaccines rapidly progressing? Why the desire to fast-track this decision ahead of licensing specifications that the city’s Health & Human Services and Public Safety Committee intends to vote on in January?

Homelessness in Maine deserves strategic and coordinated solutions. The Planning Board must “plan” – not indulge knee-jerk emotion. Anyone who agrees should contact the Planning Board at planningboard@portlandmaine.gov before Dec. 8.

Jim Hall
Portland

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