In recent days we have read that Kittery is the latest to curb plans for new housing. Further north, Cape Elizabeth, so vehemently against having affordable housing go up last year, is noticeably quiet when high-priced condos are proposed for construction on the same site.

The silence about the housing out of reach for Mainers is deafening. Meanwhile, in Portland, the homeless camp doubled in size over the weekend at Deering Oaks, many of whom are homeless because of the lack of affordable housing and are just seeking safety and stability.

The homeless will, of course, be judged by others, and eventually be forcibly removed. However, whenever our elected leaders in our communities attempt to develop plans for affordable housing to address this immediate and severe crisis in our community, citizens protest. The same citizens who complain about the homeless setting up camps seem to be the same voices stopping the development of affordable housing.

News for Mainers: We cannot stop growth! We can only choose how we grow. Do we want our communities having squalor and fear? Or do we choose to put our minds together, dedicated to developing affordable housing in our communities so that people living here can have a chance at a safe, productive life with some happiness?

The homeless camps in Portland and Lewiston, as well as around Maine, are not an indictment on the residents of those tents; they are an indictment on us.

Matthew Simpson
Portland

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