City manager misrepresents plan for resource center’s future

Preble Street has a decades-long history of filling service gaps, meeting urgent needs and working in tandem with our partners to address problems and provide hope for our vulnerable neighbors. Today, we are a strong anti-poverty agency that has many doorways – more than a dozen programs throughout the state, including Anti-Trafficking Services; Veterans Housing … Read more

Home is a place to say hello and goodbye

“Watching my father’s struggles was a painfully long goodbye. Fortunately, Logan Place gave a father and his children the chance to once again say hello.” Amanda A. Meader shares a beautiful story of how the Preble Street Housing First program touched her family. Read more…  

Apartment complex for chronically homeless people opens in Portland

Avesta Housing and Preble Street have opened Portland’s third “housing first” program, Huston Commons, which is now home to 30 formerly homeless individuals with chronic health challenges. Located near Morrill’s Corner at 72 Bishop St. in Portland, Huston Commons was named for Steve Huston, a former Preble Street employee who experienced and overcame homelessness and … Read more

Bank foundation providing $300K to fight Maine homelessness

A more than quarter of a million dollar grant is being given to Preble Street Resource Center in Portland- money that the non-profit’s staff say will help end the cycle of chronic homelessness for many people. The KeyBank Foundation is giving $300,000 to Preble Street over the next three years. The money will help bolster … Read more

KeyBank donates $300,000 to Preble Street

Preble Street, a Portland nonprofit focused on reducing homelessness, will receive $300,000 from KeyBank’s charitable arm. KeyBank Foundation will make the grant over three years. The donation is part of a Key’s National Community Benefits Plan, which will commit $16.5 billion to community development and investment over five years. The plan will cover Key’s 15-state … Read more

Want to end homelessness? Try giving the homeless a home

Portland had the dubious distinction in the days before Christmas of topping a list of U.S. cities “going above and beyond to push the most vulnerable Americans out of the public eye during the most compassionate time of the year.” The website U.S. Uncut singled out Maine’s largest city for destroying homeless encampments along Interstate … Read more

A Place to Call Home: Part One

For most people who use Maine’s shelters, homelessness is temporary. But there are others who need more support– the chronically homeless. A decade ago, the State of Utah made a commitment to eliminate chronic homelessness. And what’s being done there is inspiring people here in Maine and across the country. Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox (R-Utah) … Read more

A Place to Call Home: Part Two

This is Part Two of a series on Housing First. In Part One, WCSH traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah, to learn more about that city’s acclaimed Housing First programs out there. Preble Street has been running Housing First programs in Portland for more than a decade. What kind of commitment from Maine’s leaders will it take to expand … Read more

TideSmart Talk #154: Mark Swann and Dana Totman

This week on TideSmart Talk, we focused on housing and homelessness in Maine. In this two-part show, Mark Swann from Preble Street joined us to describe what he, the staff, and over 6,000 volunteers do to help serve 600,000 meals annually and to people and to combat homelessness and poverty. Dana Totman of Avesta Housing … Read more