Mid-Maine Homeless Shelter and Services Update
Dear Friends,
The 2021 numbers are in and the evidence is clear: Waterville has a phenomenal year-round 24 hour shelter.
Despite a second year of providing crisis services in a pandemic, MMHSS continues to serve two dozen people a night at our Colby Street shelter, with over 50 more people - including families with children - through FEMA. That's 90 people a night who would otherwise have no place to go.
To put this in perspective, only Preble Street in Portland and PCHC in Bangor are running FEMA shelter programs and they are vastly larger organizations with massive resources at their disposal. We are a team of 35.
We may be small but we are also mighty: when asked to step up, we said yes because we knew it was important for our community and would allow us to serve more people.
Our goal is to do this as safely as possible and we have implemented significant pandemic protocols to ensure our guests and staff are safe, including obtaining a federal waiver that allows us to operate an on-site testing service for guests and staff.
Our programs are second to none. Our shelter, case managment and housing navigation services are low barrier which means people are welcome irrespective of the issues they face, including criminal convictions and addiction.
We are also a Housing First agency which means our goal is to make sure all of our guests get back into year round, permanent housing, and we're pretty good at it - among the best in the state. Our guests stay with us as long as they need to until they find that permanent place to call home. Sadly, it is taking a lot longer than normal because of the pandemic. But we're continuing to house several households a month.
From November 1st until March 31st (or as necessary due to weather conditions) we also operate an overnight Winter Warming Center. We partner with local GA offices including Waterville GA to ensure that no one in Waterville is without a safe and warm place at night. Anyone who doesn't qualify or can't complete an emergency GA intake will find shelter with us.
Like our regular shelter, everyone is welcome at the Warming Center, including service and assistance animals, so long as they are safe to be in a congregate community (this is true for animals, but also for their humans).
Guests of the Warming Center receive a a cot, access to a shower and food, and are offered case management, rapid resolution and other services. During inclement weather folks stay as long as they like.
In 2021 we served 425 individuals including 53 this season at the Winter Warming Center and we helped prevent another 62 folks from becoming homeless through "Diversion", a program we are expanding through the generous support of the City of Waterville and in collaboration with our colleagues at KVCAP and Kennebec Behavioral Health (KBH). We hope we can triple the number of people diverted from homelessness in 2022.
Some of you may be wondering what will happen if we can't serve all the people who require assistance this winter - no one should be left outside when the temperatures are deadly. We worry about this, too, and we monitor our data daily to ensure we are equipped to deal with exigent circumstances. We are also in regular communication with local fire and police departments. If we get to a point where we are unable to meet the demands on our service, including through collaboration with GA offices and others, local Maine Emergency Management can open up additional temporary shelter to meet that demand.
Well, I can hear some of you say, this is all well and good, but why do I still see unsheltered people in Waterville?
This is the hard part for us, too. All of the staff at MMHSS are hardwired for service. We run towards the disaster, not away from it. Not being able to assist people is hard.
The truth is, about 15% of people experiencing homelessness have a serious mental illness, are struggling with addiction, or have other significant barriers that prevent them from coming inside. As hard as we try to keep our rules to a minimum, for some, any rule or requirement is one too many. It can be impossible not to have access to drugs - even for a night. And sometimes the congregate nature of emergency shelter can trigger a mental health crisis. The system is imperfect and it doesn't work for everyone. The system is also designed to let people make this choice, even if we don't agree with it.
But we promise you this: we believe in second, third, and 53rd chances. When the time is right, we will be there. And in the meantime, we will keep trying. We work closely with the PATH team at KBH who do an amazing job at street outreach in Kennebec County and together we try to support as many folks as we can in whatever way is needed. Anyone can come in during the day, even if it is just for an hour to use the shower and wash clothes. Sometimes it takes a while to build the trust necessary to find the right time to come in from the cold.
All in all, while it has been a very difficult two years, we challenged ourselves to meet the moment by expanding and improving our services and fostering a sense of shared purpose and partnership.
But as good as we're doing, we know there is still more to do. We have big goals for 2022 including expanding family services, increasing the supply of supportive housing locally, and strengthening local and statewide collaborations.
We are doing everything we can to achieve our vision of a community where the experience of homelessness is a rare, brief, and one-time event in someone's life.
We wanted to share this information with you all in thanks and gratitude for your support and encouragement. On behalf of our staff, board of directors, volunteers (we see you!), donors, and most importantly our Guests, thank you for for believing in us.
Katie Spencer White
MMHSS CEO