According to your report “MaineHousing set to spend $21 million on winter shelter for homeless” (Jan. 18, Page B1), Greg Payne, a senior state housing policy adviser, has stated that the funds “will continue to support people now residing in hotels, as well as enable more communities to stand up emergency shelters and other solutions to help support Maine people at risk of homelessness during the winter months.”
Those funds may well provide support during the winter for those who need it, but my guess is that they will do very little to improve the skills those people need in order to make a living.
Consider Preble Street, which provides housing, meals and other services to those in need. According to their website, they need volunteers for food preparation, kitchen cleaning, washing windows and stocking shelves. Why couldn’t these jobs be filled by those who benefit from the meals and housing? Doing so would give the recipients some responsibility in providing for their own needs, rather than relying on others, and so might provide a pathway out of homelessness.
According to a report in The Washington Post, the Biden administration plans to combat homelessness by battling racial inequity, encouraging the construction of affordable housing and facilitating communication between federal and local governments. None of these efforts involves training people so they are able to begin to support themselves.
I fully expect to see homelessness remain a problem for the foreseeable future.
William Vaughan Jr.
Chebeague Island
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