Local groups aiming to eliminate homelessness in the Twin Cities by 2019 begin counting down in January.

That’s when representatives from Lewiston, Auburn and local social service agencies will begin meeting to decide their next steps in doing away with homelessness once and for all.

“We are the only community in Maine that has a concrete plan aimed at solving the homeless problem,” said Larry Marcoux, 2010 chairman of the Lewiston-Auburn Alliance for Services to the Homeless. “It goes beyond just doing things to help the homeless, but really expects a lot from them. There’s a lot they need to do to help pull themselves up.”

Both Lewiston and Auburn City Councils have endorsed the plan, released by the LAASH in May. It comes on the heels of a two-year study of homelessness in the Twin Cities.

The United Way is the lead agency on the local homelessness effort.
Other members include the cities, schools, Maine Career Center, Common
Ties Mental Health Coalition, New Beginnings and local businesses and
attorneys. 

Marcoux, who is also director of community impact for the United Way of Androscoggin County, said the group’s 2008 study showed that there is a homeless problem even though it’s not always apparent.

“I contend that most people don’t recognize homelessness in our community because they  don’t see it every day,” Marcoux said. “They don’t see people sleeping on a bench in Kennedy Park like they do in a bigger city, so there must not be a problem.”

The study found that as many as 100 people are homeless on any given night in Lewiston and Auburn, and as many as 1,300 are homeless at one time during a year.

“But they tend to move from place to place, couch surfing,” he said. “They spend two-to-three weeks on one friend’s couch, then move to another.”

The problem has only gotten worse as times have gotten tough and jobs harder to find.

“We know of families, moms and dads and kids, that have to split up each night,” he said. “Mom and Dad sleep in one place, the kids in another.”

The group’s plan calls on five strategies: preventing the conditions that lead to homelessness; intervening and helping those at risk of becoming homeless; making sure that local agencies are ready in case of a homeless crisis; helping people learn the skills to live on their own; and building permanent affordable housing locally.

Only one of those strategies involves providing shelters and making sure there are emergency beds available to provide for the homeless.

Most deal with other solutions — encouraging business investment to bring in more and better paying job, helping at-risk students to aspire to better grades and jobs, and finding people at risk of being homeless and helping them change the direction of their lives.

“One thing we’ve discovered doing our studies and the plan is that the more we can do to relieve pressure at the beginning, the less expensive it is for the communities,” he said. “We don’t have to pay for shelters or for general assistance because we don’t have the problem. And there is a real savings in that.”

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