Donald Gean’s Maine Voices column, “What homeless people need most is not a shelter, but a place to live” (March 21), raises difficult but profound questions about the way we help those in our society with the greatest needs.

We’ve spent 20 years watching our shelter population continue to grow. It is time to take a new approach.

Across the country, stronger supported housing policies have significantly reduced shelter populations. Why not here?

In Portland and other communities, we must make some difficult decisions regarding homelessness.

But these choices present us with an opportunity to move beyond warehousing large numbers of people and toward taking a more supportive, humane approach by providing permanent housing and really helping people put their lives on a firmer footing.

Cots are necessary, but more is not the answer. We know that next-step housing works.

As a community, we face some daunting choices regarding homelessness.

We can stop doing more of what hasn’t worked and in the process create a better situation for those in need and our community as a whole.

Steve Hirshon

Portland

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