Thank you for publishing the April 3 article “Biddeford looks to address growing homelessness but remains wary of building a shelter.”

While this article focused on Biddeford, the increasing visibility of persons experiencing homelessness can be seen in many municipalities in southern Maine. Homelessness is a complex social problem needing broad, collaborative responses by our regional governments.

As a housing provider in York County, Volunteers of America Northern New England believes that homelessness cannot be adequately addressed through shelters alone. A response system is needed that addresses the core causes of homelessness, including our community’s supply of affordable housing (at the lowest income levels); access to various social services and supports, and access to emergency shelter. By empowering the individuals, meeting their various needs and offering rapid access to safe housing, we will then begin to see declines in the incidences of homelessness. Clearly, each municipality has a responsibility to contribute to regional and state planning and to offer collective investments of resources.

Now is the time to accomplish regional planning and approach the state through concurrent planning by the Department of Health and Human Services, MaineCare and Maine Housing. Additionally, there is an attempt to redesign our homeless response system through the Built for Zero initiative, which seeks to bring together state and community partners to implement nine service hubs (throughout Maine) to develop a data-driven response system to make homelessness rare, brief and one-time for all households and achieve functional zero.

Mike Merrill
director, VOANNE Homeless Services Maine
Westbrook

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