As an addiction medicine physician in Portland, I hear every day from patients struggling with both addiction and homelessness. Mayor Keith Wilson campaigned on increasing shelter beds; he has invested much of his political capital in the argument that expanding shelter capacity will solve the homelessness crisis, (“ Portland mayor continues to add overnight-only shelters despite empty beds, neighbor complaints, ” Oct. 23).

It’s not surprising that these shelters have low occupancy rates. Many of my patients tell me they avoid shelters because they feel unsafe, fear bedbugs, have nowhere to store their belongings and don’t want to be separated from others in their community. Simply adding more overnight beds does little to address the root causes of homelessness. Decades of research s

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