Vulnerable People and Places Blog

In the search for another topic to discuss I came across this article . In it, they claimed that Portland’s homeless situation has only been worsened by poor policy on both state and city levels. This and what is described as an attempt of tokenism is what this article claims to be at the core of this issue.  To an extent, I agree with this. It’s understandable that the city does not want to upset it’s constituents and thus has taken a more liberal approach of not apprehending individuals for substance abuse or attempting to remove camps. The humanity of these individuals has to be respected, but the solutions the city has arrived at in order to accomplish this completely miss the fact that there is an apparent substance abuse issue with the homeless community here in Portland. Understanding that these people are victims of circumstances is one thing, but going further and assisting them in reclaiming their lives is another.  Later in the day after some continuation of my rese...

  There are shelters open both locally and across the country and they’re doing their best to let in as many homeless into the shelters but some of those individuals who are sleeping out in the streets choose not to stay in the shelter and rather sleeping on the cold concrete than inside a shelter. Why is this? For the most part, most shelters are just big warehouses where they just cram a bunch of homeless inside big buildings like warehouses, and they kind of just let them do what they want. One of the issues mentioned is that while big shelters let in a lot of homeless into them, the issue is that there are some of them that have serious mental issues, which causes problems because of the chance of violence rising in the shelters. Another issue with overcrowded shelters is the lack of sense of security in some of those places, some examples are that shoes have been one of the few items stolen from other people inside of the shelter community. Another issue is the lack of ventila...

    (Credit: GettyImages) Homelessness can take many forms, with people living on the streets, in encampments or shelters, in transitional housing programs, or doubled up with family and friends. The federal government reports that an estimated 1.5 million people a year experience homelessness. Others estimate that twice this number of people are actually living without housing in any given year. The connection between housing and homelessness is generally intuitive, but the strong link between health and homelessness is often overlooked. An injury or illness can lead to unforeseen challenges such as losing employment due to missing too much time from work or exhausting sick leave or not being able to maintain a regular schedule. This can be especially true for physically demanding jobs such as construction, manufacturing, and other labor-intensive industries. The loss of employment due to poor health can bring many issues. With the loss of income, one cannot afford to ...

Although many of us are aware of substance abuse on the streets, our understanding of the issue often comes with labels like "tweaker" or "druggie." Unfortunately, it's much easier to distance ourselves from the issue at hand by shifting the blame to individuals, rather than our lacking social support system. Surely everyone chooses whether or not to indulge in highly addictive substances, right? Well, the issue turns out to be much more complicated. To start, about 70% of American adults reported drinking alcohol in the last month, according to a survey conducted in 2019. While indulging in alcohol is widely accepted in our culture, that doesn't negate the fact that it can have consequences for our general health and safety. (It's the 3rd leading cause of preventable death, tobacco usage being the 1st). Despite the potential risks of addiction, dangerous driving conditions, etc., the average Portlander still drinks nearly three gallons of alcohol a ye...

It seems like homeless in our community who end up getting arrested just to be released a short time later and then having the cycle repeat has been a rather endless cycle. The process of this is that a homeless person is caught with a low-level crime like theft and drug usage, they are arrested and booked into jail and then released a short time later, and this cycle repeats over and over. In 2018 in the Portland area alone, more than 2,000 homeless people were booked into jail and they made up more than 8,000 of the bookings. The data for this shows that this endless cycle does exist and that arresting the homeless doesn’t resolve the crime. In fact, 87% of the homeless people who were arrested back in 2016, just ended up getting arrested and sent to jail again in the next three years after that. Long answer short: arresting the homeless isn’t going to solve anything. Instead what local leaders should be doing is that rather than using law enforcement to arrest the homeless just to h...

The Foundation for Social Change (FSC) based in Vancouver, Canada illustrates the positive impacts the act of placing belief in someone can do. In their social experiment in partnership with the University of British Colombia titled The New Leaf Project, they took a bold course of action on the issue of homelessness. The foundation awarded 50 individuals between 19 and 64 years of age a one-time cash transfer of $7,500 to those undergoing homelessness. This in hand gifted recipients the opportunity for choice, control, and purchasing power—all components that play a role in participating in society. The experiment was conducted in a course of 12 months, supplying researchers with inspiring outcomes . (source: sciencemag.org)  From this study, researchers discovered most of the recipients’ spending habits were largely allotted towards food, rent, and transportation. Opposed to public belief, the supplied cash funds spent on abused substances—drugs, cigarettes, and alcohol—experienc...

  When it starts to get cold outside, some hot chocolate and a fireplace makes the perfect afternoon. Unfortunately, not all of us are so lucky as to have even a hot chocolate. When it hits winter in the PNW, many homeless people are still on the streets, barely able to keep warm in their tents or even just on the sidewalk.  Luckily, there are some places they can go to to keep warm, but it's not always an option if they fill up or have certain restrictions.  Warming Shelter This is one resource for warming shelters, where they also have higher capacity on nights with severe weather.  There's a lot we can do to help out those in need, such as donating warm clothes we don't use so that they at least have something warmer to wear. The above website has some places you can donate warmer clothing to those in need.  This time of year is filled with joy and holidays, but many suffer in a way we could only imagine. If we can help them any way possible, it could really...

  Source (American Addiction Centers)      Homelessness has a myriad of different reasons it can happen. The similarity between all scenarios in which a person is experiencing homelessness is that each person is human. A popular belief is that homelessness is a choice. People believe there is a set amount of circumstances that cause homelessness and that it is a choice not to fight to get out of those problems. The problems can range from mental health issues to drug addiction. There is no one size fits all, and it is not a choice.  Over the last few weeks, I have learned that there are many factors that can lead to homelessness. One big one that focuses on our class is how affordable housing, or the lack thereof, is a significant contributor to people not getting back on their feet. If you want to learn more about that subject and if affordable housing can help, click here.   This lack of affordable housing is a big roadblock for those trying to ove...

  Over the past 15 years homelessness the number of homeless in America has continually decreased. Thanks to government help or the economy slowly getting being better after the Great Recession back in 2007-2009.  As each year brings on its own unique challenges, 2020 brought something no one would expect, Covid-19. Covid-19 is a deadly virus that attacks the respiratory system of its victim. Since this virus caused a pandemic many business and job locations closed down.  This unfortunately caused a lot of lost jobs and many either had to get on an unemployment plan or were forced to live without money.  For those barely getting by this was detrimental and many ended up having to move out of where they were living. The homeless in America is living through a very weird time right now. There are more people on the street over the past few months than there has been in year. Cities are deteriorating due to the increased number of people on the streets and all the socia...

  Houseless is the newest term on the horizon, in the front of political correctness this word in many ways has adapted and taken over the term homeless .  But what is the difference between the two terms? Is one more appropriate than the other? Are words powerful enough to suggest negative connotations? These are important questions ask when considering such an impactful, large and overarching problem that affects this many. Homeless inherently refers to the lack of a home, a home often symbolizing permanence, emotional connections and importance. They often say home is where the heart is, someone can have a home even when they don't have a house. Examples of temporary housing facility made using tent s or other temporary structures can be great examples of creating homes with a house. While houseless suggests the lacking of a house, a house being the physical structure and building to which people can occupy. A home has far more emotional connection and implication. Whil...

(Source: The Wallstreet Journal) Is there a parallel between our homelessness situation and the lack of rent control in Portland? Is our housing cost the main barrier for someone to regain independence? When you are looking for public assistance programs, you usually are at the end of your rope. Being an adult in our current society, earning $12 an hour minimum wage seems like a good thing in the Portland areas. But when it comes to a one-bedroom apartment, how does the amount stack up?  $24,960 a year for a full-time position. This is roughly 844.08 every other week with minimum tax deductions.  How does this earning stack up to an apartment in Portland? An average One Bedroom apartment in Portland metro starts between &1100-$1500. This effectively massacres the budget of this individual on an annual basis. $18000 a year out of a $24960 budget is roughly about 73% of their earnings. This is in a standard minimum wage job, and completely unsustainable. The threshold for su...

  A student at Portland State University approaches a group of fellow students and community members around the campus.   That student asks “How important of an issue do you believe homelessness is in Portland and around the PSU campus?”.   Individuals would likely respond that it is a significant issue and maybe even express their opinion as to the relation to drugs or mental disease.   Jumping to the end of the conversation, the PSU student asks “What are you going to do to be part of the solution?”.   What reply do you believe would be received?   We spend so much of our time determining root problems and suggesting how to solve homelessness.   This seems, however, to always be an unanswered call for action.   We constantly acknowledge that it is an issue along our local leaders within the community, but still no action is taken that leads to a positive change.   I am not saying that ideas are ineffective or shallow, rather that those ...

Homelessness isn’t a problem exclusive to the United States. Countries all over the world are experiencing a sharp uptick in the number of people sleeping on the streets each night. According to an article from DW.com , homelessness has been on the rise in every European country for the last decade. Except one: Finland. So how did an entire country manage to successfully reduce the numbers of people experiencing homelessness? Through the national adoption of Finland’s Housing First policy . Chart 1: Housing First Finland and Its Effects on Homelessness. [Source: Housing First ] The above chart demonstrates that, unlike it's EU neighbors, Finland has not only managed to prevent its rate of homelessness from increasing; their numbers are on the decline.  What is Housing First and How is it Different? Transitional housing programs are common in the United States. They often require that individuals achieve various social rehabilitation milestones in order to earn housing, such as gett...

Many of us are in a position where finding information or support is easy to do. Housing to us is something taken for granted, perhaps because we consider it to be a necessity. One of the main issues keeping homeless people from getting housing is lack of access to resources , and information on how to ask or where to look . As a college student myself I have lived both at home with my parents as well as on my own in a dorm room and apartment. However, never during any of these transitions did it occur to me that I would be homeless. I have always had the funding necessary for housing , or the resources necessary to support myself when I lacked them. Yet, there are college students who do not have this, homeless students amongst us.  Unaffordable housing costs and rising tuition have created a difficult scenario for students that have led some to not have anywhere to live. Lack of credit or knowledge on where to get housing support is something that often holds these student...