Vulnerable People and Places Blog

    Since 1976 income inequality has exploded both in the United States and globally, with the top 1% of earners increasing their income by 288% in that time while the bottom 50% of earners have seen their income increase by only 18.8%. If we look at the top 0.01% we see their incomes rose 671.8% from 1976 to 2023 (source: https://realtimeinequality.org/ ). 

A Mother, Two Kids, and a Small Step Toward Hope How lives could be restored with a steady micro-income and a supportive community By Miradi Tanzambi Beautiful mom with two kids  A mother struggles daily to maintain a job while living on the streets with her two lovely children. It seems hard for her to work without a safe place for her children. She is also battling her own addiction while attempting to maintain her strength for the small faces that rely on her. Imagine a church now, a group of individuals who are prepared to intervene with love rather than condemnation. They assist her during her time in treatment and help look after her kids when she goes to work. In order to stay in contact with her children and her new neighborhood, she also receives a tiny but consistent income that pays for her bus trip and keeps her phone charged. This is what a Guaranteed Micro-Income with Community Anchoring could make possible. The core of the Guaranteed Micro-Income with Community Ancho...

   How Even Small, But Steady Income Can Help Support Mental Health Written by Susie Martinez Imagine Life Without Stability Picture trying to get through each day without knowing if you’ll have enough to eat or a safe place to sleep. For thousands of unhoused people, this is what they face every day. When basic needs aren’t met, stress and anxiety grow, making it difficult to find work, get medical care, or plan ahead. This ongoing struggle can keep people trapped in a cycle that feels impossible to escape. Why Stability Matters Small, regular payments, often called micro-income , can help people who are unhoused regain control of their lives. Even a few dollars each month can reduce stress, support mental health, and make it easier to plan for basics like food, transportation, or phone service. This kind of support can help connect people to programs, resource centers, and job opportunities that can essentially change someone’s life. How Anchoring Helps When micro-income is...

  Visioning the Future: What Could Guaranteed Micro-Income Look Like in 2030? Imagine the spring of 2030 in Portland, Oregon. The cherry blossoms along the Willamette are in bloom, but beneath that gentle display of shifting nature lies a bolder change: an economic foundation rooted not only in jobs and markets, but in community-anchored stability. A subtle, but powerful structure has been shaped. A structure built on modest, dependable micro-incomes woven into everyday life in neighborhoods, deliberately anchored in local connections, neighborhood work, and shared purpose. In this future, every adult resident receives a small, regular stipend, not a full universal basic income, but a guaranteed micro-income that reduces the instability of part-time work and unpredictable hours. This isn’t just welfare: it’s integrated into the community fabric. Because these income streams are anchored to community value, they build both individual stability and collective social integration. Sev...

Dignity Restored: The Impact of Micro-Incomes on the Human Spirit. By Brad Staples One of the biggest challenges of being houseless is not just finding a job, somewhere safe to sleep or your next meal, the challenge is maintaining morale and a sense of dignity despite the immense hardships. People need more than just a roof over their heads, but the power and agency to make choices about their everyday lives.  That is one of the strengths of providing a guaranteed micro income for unhoused individuals. It provides them with a safe and reliable income instead of forcing people to prove their worthiness for aid. This restores the agency, humanity and control an individual loses when they face a homelessness crisis and allows them to plan what to eat, where to sleep, pay for medicine and plan for the future, something that is lost to many when these sorts of crises occur.  Evidence backs up the power of micro incomes, with the Denver Basic Income Project , where participants r...

    The Moral Architecture of Giving   by Arella Ram   Cash transfers may not lead to higher spending on alcohol and tobacco for a simple and profound reason: people, when given the chance, often reach first toward what sustains them. Food, shelter, medicine, education—these immediate needs call more loudly than indulgence. There is something quietly dignified in this, an affirmation of a natural human desire to better one’s circumstances when the means are made available. It challenges a cynical assumption often held by those in power: that the poor cannot be trusted to act responsibly with freedom. The evidence instead suggests the opposite. When a household receives cash, it is most often treated as an opportunity to repair, to rebuild, to hope. The Flypaper effect captures this moral intuition well. Money tends to “stick” where it lands—especially when it arrives with a purpose attached. If income is targeted toward specific needs, a kind of so...

Beyond the Numbers: Rethinking Homelessness in Portland  By Abdelrahman Elkasaby We can discuss the statistics all we want, but at the end of the day, these are real people with names and faces. People who once had jobs, families, and homes, now facing a system that often sees them as numbers before it sees them as human. Portland has seen its homelessness crisis grow steadily in recent years. City officials point to rising unsheltered counts and announce expansions of shelters to respond. The city’s plan to add 1,500 new beds sounds big on paper (Oregon Public Broadcasting, 2025). Reports show the number of people living outside keeps climbing, and rents have gone up sharply since 2021, making it easier to lose housing and harder to get back in (Do Good Multnomah, n.d.). But none of those numbers show what life actually feels like on the ground. One woman, 58-year-old Alix Rabbas, captured that feeling clearly. After a long day of walking around the city, managing her errands, and...

  By Micah Beach The word homeless has become a target of numerical values.  Now, more than ever, the political spectrum classifies people living in poverty as nothing more than a problem to fix, rather than a means of understanding first. When looking at such a large statistic, such as homelessness, especially in the Portland Metropolitan area, it’s easy to understand why annoyance from taxpayers has become so loud, as millions of dollars sweep through to the streets with little to no signs of improvement. But while the attempt to prevent an increase in poverty continues, so does the increase in dehumanization.  This is the case that Kevin Dahlgren makes, a disruptor of the homeless Industrial Complex who seeks to talk directly with those in need in order to figure out the flaws of the system, specifically in Portland. In his article, Addiction: A weapon of self-destruction, he explains that to understand the homelessness epidemic best, you must first interact with thos...

  Rebuilding Belonging: How Community Connections Can Keep Portland Housed Cate Pocitari Photo Credit:  JOIN PDX JOIN PDX Mobile outreach program staff and volunteers providing resources to Portland residents experiencing housing insecurity. When we talk about homelessness in Portland, we usually picture tents, shelters, or people holding signs downtown. But what if part of the solution starts with something more human...like helping people feel like they belong somewhere again? A new report from Portland State University,  “Where Will My Family Go? The Financial, Housing, and Health Challenges of Families Facing Eviction,”  shows how eviction isn’t just a financial crisis—it’s an emotional one too. Researchers found that when families lose their homes, they also lose stability, community, and often their sense of safety (Cholula et al., 2025). Parents in the study said their children’s well-being was their biggest worry. Many described how eviction disrupted school ...

  Living in Portland used to be associated with a cool, relaxed lifestyle where individuals walk around with their Stumptown-Coffee lattes and new nonfiction novel they picked up from Powells. But lately, the rising costs are changing the narrative for many residents.  Portland, a city celebrated for its quirky charm and walkable city is facing a harsh reality. The rapidly escalating cost of living is a crises that touches every corner of our community, impacting our most vulnerable groups.  Emergency health services, affordable housing, and homeless shelters have been reaching their breaking point, with not a lot of resources left over to spare. These services, while intended to aid those in need, are not interlinked, often forcing the individual to go on a goose chase in order to find the aid they need, adding further pressure to houseless individuals. On the other hand, many housing services are unavailable due to months long waiting lists for affordable sober housing,...

  Photo Credit: Tulane University When we think about homelessness, we often picture tents, shelters, or encampments. But what if the real solution begins before someone loses their housing - by helping people feel financially and socially anchored in their own communities? A growing number of cities are testing guaranteed micro-income programs, small, consistent cash payments that help people cover basic needs and plan ahead. Unlike traditional assistance, these funds come without conditions or bureaucratic barriers. In Stockton, California, a guaranteed income pilot gave 125 residents $500 a month for two years. Recipients reported “less anxiety and stress, and an easier time securing full-time employment” among other positive effects (Penn Today, 2023). This simple idea of financial grounding can ripple outward. When people can rely on even a modest income, they’re more likely to stay connected to work, neighbors, and shared spaces. This connection is sometimes called community ...