I am not stranger to being homeless. As I’ve had to say too many times during this campaign, I myself was once verifiably homeless.

To start with, everyone has a right to be homeless. If you don’t want the responsibility and benefits of paying bills, working a job, or otherwise contributing to society, you don’t have to. No one has a right to housing, no matter what any liberal or communist has to say about it.

The reason we seek to help the homeless is that it makes our communities safer and healthier, not that we have a moral obligation to give the working people’s hard-earned resources to those who have not earned them.

There are basically three kinds of homeless people, in my experience: the mentally ill, the drug addicts and/or criminals, and the people who have fallen on hard times.

The mentally ill should be referred at all costs to the mental health system. If there are not enough resources, we should explore why there are not enough resources. For example, I have been told by a mental health provider that Janet Mills’ policies have redirected a record number of criminals to Dorothea Dix who are in it for the “easy ride.” To remedy this and make room for the truly mentally ill on our streets, I will seek to work with Republican lawmakers to roll back these changes and return criminals to where they belong. After all, Dorothea Dix is a massive facility, and it could certainly house a good number of our homeless who belong there.

The drug addicts, drug dealers, and criminals who are unhoused should be dealt with by the police. They should not be in receipt of any city funds, and they should be made to feel unwelcome unless or until their behavior changes.

People who have fallen on hard times don’t have a problem demonstrating what got them to that point: they lost their job, got behind on rent, and now they have nothing and are trying to start over. Or whatever the case may be. For these people, we are building a 60-unit complex, and other options, but I think they should come with strings attached. As I outlined in my Platform, I believe there should be work requirements and time limits on these housing arrangements.

In tandem with lowering property taxes and thus ultimately lowering rents, we will create a path for people to get back on their feet who want to take advantage of it. For the incorrigible who do not comply with these simple conditions, we will have to harden our heart and remind them that we are only one small city in Maine, with limited resources, and we have done all we can for them. A mostly-free place to live for two years is probably better than they can find anywhere else, wouldn’t you think?

I have always believed in giving a hand up, not a hand out.

Where Did They All Come From?

If you ask around the homeless community, not a ton of them originated right here in Bangor, and neither did the problems that made them homeless. I think it is relatively foolish to offer all these services at the cost of the Bangor taxpayer alone. Instead, every time a homeless resident from out-of-town signs up for one of our programs, we should send a partial bill to their home town, at least if it is one of the neighboring towns known for exporting their homeless to us. (Looking at you, Brewer.)

Word gets out in the homeless community, and by and large they have it pretty good here. They have the Hope House, the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, and a general culture of good will among the residents. So they tell each other about our many resources and lax enforcement policies. In thanks for all the City does for them, they shoplift routinely from our small and large businesses, deal drugs to our teenagers, and even commit serious crimes.

Simply offering homeless services with no strings attached and no limits will lead to a bigger homeless problem and the need for endlessly more resources. To address the situation, I will consult with the local members of the community who are actively working to help the homeless, at least one of whom I am already very familiar with. If you are reading this and you have creative, constructive feedback, either leave a comment below or use one of my contact options to reach out.

I’m all ears: I want what’s best for the city, and while I realize it’s going to cost a bit of money to achieve results, I don’t think we have to spend hundreds of million dollars. I think we can do a lot with the many resources already in place, and we have to always remember that we are spending other people’s money.