For 14 years, Kabir was homeless in Portland. But today, he is safely housed at Logan Place, Maine’s first Site-based Housing First program which opened 19 years ago.
Kabir’s time on the streets was tough. “There is no break when you’re homeless. There’s no door to close,” he shared. Living outside led to numerous health issues and landed him at Maine Medical Center.
“I was hospitalized three times this year before I made it through to recuperative care and to this apartment. It gave me a place to heal and do other treatments. I feel like I’ve been given a clean slate and a whole new chance at life. It’s my doctor, it’s people like Dr. Rob [Fulton, Medical Director, Greater Portland Health, who provides leadership at the recuperative care site] and Britt [La Shier, Preble Street, Director of Social Services, Recuperative Care Program], it’s people that are there for me.”
A partnership between Maine Medical Center, Greater Portland Health, and Preble Street, Portland’s innovative recuperative care program provides a space for people experiencing homelessness to rest, heal, and connect with medical care and social work providers after being released from a hospital stay. The 15-bed program serves people with acute medical needs and most stays last approximately 4-6 weeks. In today’s housing crisis this is often not enough time to get someone into housing, but it is enough time to lay the foundation toward long-term stability and eventually a permanent home.
When Kabir entered recuperative care, he was already on the waiting list for one of Portland’s 85 existing Housing First apartments. The waiting list for this permanent housing is typically more than 100 people at any given time.
“All of us have a time when we needed another chance and that’s what recuperative care offered me,” adds Kabir.
Britt La Shier has known Kabir for several years. “Sometimes when folks are outside for so long, you are genuinely excited to see people in the hospital to get the treatment that they deserve or connected services.”
“I think a lot of people think that once a person is in Housing First that the job is done. But that’s really where the work begins – to get people medically stable or addressing a mental health or substance use disorder. With Kabir transitioning from recuperative care directly into Logan Place, he’s in a much healthier state than he was before and can benefit more from these first few weeks of housing.”
“Here at Logan Place, I’ve finally reached a place where I can live quietly and figure out how to reach more people to help – there’s a great need to help these people that are dropping into oblivion at an insane rate,” shares Kabir.
Avesta Housing and Preble Street collaborated on the first three Site-based Housing First properties in the state of Maine — Logan Place, which opened in 2005; Florence House (2010); and Huston Commons (2017). Avesta owns and operates the properties, and Preble Street provides 24/7 onsite support services, harm reduction, and crisis intervention to maximize housing stability and prevent returns to homelessness. Portland Housing Authority issues project-based Section 8 vouchers that are attached to every unit. In November 2023, thanks to legislation signed into law this year by Governor Mills to create a sustainable vehicle to develop Site-based Housing First programs across Maine, Avesta and Preble Street announced plans to provide for a fourth Site-based Housing First permanent housing on the site of the former Oxford Street homeless shelter in Portland.
“Housing is healthcare,” shares La Shier. “The more housing opportunities – whether into a substance use program or to transitional housing or permanent housing like Site-based Housing First – that we have paired with medical respite, the longer that people can have an extended life and a happier and healthier quality of life as well.”
“I feel great about the future. I’m grateful to have a platform to speak and maybe get through to somebody. I want to reach out and do peer support; I want to be able to give back.”
Learn more
Going mobile and getting creative: Preble Street’s Street Outreach Collaborative
The Street Outreach Collaborative (SOC), Preble Street’s mobile outreach team, focuses primarily on people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, with the highest need. The SOC drives around Portland in a blue, Preble Street branded van, (you’ve probably seen it!) looking to meet basic needs and distribute nutritious meals to people. Basic needs are the foundation for a
Mental health and homelessness: get to know the facts
Although we don’t have a vaccine for mental health or substance use disorders, we do have practical and effective solutions. They are the effective and evidence-based practices we know work — access to treatment, harm reduction services, mental health support, peer support groups, and perhaps most importantly, educating our community to reduce stigma and promote
Understanding low barrier shelters
What does a low-barrier shelter look like? At a time when unsheltered homelessness is increasing exponentially in our community and the shortage of low-barrier shelter beds has created a state-wide homelessness crisis, Elena’s Way and Florence House are a model for how we can take care of the most vulnerable people in our community. The
Celebrating advocacy wins
Low-barrier shelters receive funding for the next three years… On April 22, 2024, Governor Janet Mills signed the supplemental budget into law, which includes three years of $2.5M in annual funding — a total of $7.5M — to directly support emergency low-barrier shelters. This funding will be incredibly impactful for Maine’s five privately operated, low-barrier
URGENT – We need ongoing funding for low-barrier shelters!
Maine is experiencing a homelessness crisis, and our critical low-barrier shelters may close without sustainable and ongoing funding. The Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs just approved one-time funding for low-barrier shelters. We thank the AFA Committee for their support; however, emergency and low-barrier shelters need ongoing, annual funding to remain open and operational. We need
Community solutions for community problems
March is National Social Work month, and we are sharing some of the experiences of Andrew Bove (he/him), VP of Social Work at Preble Street. Below Andrew reckons with the challenges posed by the opioid epidemic, the COVID-19 pandemic, the housing crisis, and how these things have stressed an already disjointed and dysfunctional health system.
