Preble Street of Portland Maine has launched a new public service announcement featuring prominent Maine women discussing the possibilities of ending homelessness among women. Among those taking part in the 30 second clip are actor Glenn Close, Olympic gold medalist Joan Benoit Samuelson, and United States Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe.
“Maine officials are now on the record as stating unequivocally that we can end homelessness,” says Preble Street Executive Director Mark Swann.
Accompanying the video is the following description of how Preble Street is using permanent supportive housing to end homelessness, first among the chronically homeless through it’s Logan Place program, and soon for homeless women through Florence House. (In 2007, Logan Place was a finalist for the Maxwell Awards of Excellence program.)
The picture of homelessness in Maine is a terrible picture, it’s gruesome and it’s painful. The numbers are staggering, and sometimes overwhelming.
But we don’t have to accept homelessness. We don’t need to build more shelters. Things can change.
On March 24, 2005 shelter numbers plummeted in Portland. For the first time in over 20 years, there was a decrease in shelter usage.
That night was the night Logan Place opened.
Logan Place puts “housing first.” Offers chronically homeless people a Home for Good.
It’s a place where people who no longer have to deal with the stress and danger of the streets start to deal with their problems, work on recovery, engage in mental health care, reconnect with their families.
And Logan Place was only the beginning.
In less than a year, Portland’s homeless women will move to Florence House, where they will have safe, affordable apartments of their own, a safe haven for women who don’t feel ready for independence, and emergency beds for women experiencing a short-term, episode of homelessness.
It is not enough to feed people at soup kitchens and feel good about it. It’s not okay for people to sleep on mats on the floor. It’s not okay for women to live for years and years and years on the streets.
We must end homelessness. Not manage it, not deal with it, but end it.
All of us need to be saying that homelessness is not okay.
