Vulnerable People and Places Blog

🔆 EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING  🔆

Homelessness and Disabilities According to the State of Fair Housing annual report in 2020 , there were over 10,000 complaints of discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. Over half of those complaints were filed on the basis of discrimination against people with disabilities . A disability can be something obvious, like a person in a wheelchair, or less obvious such as a person with autism.  On a national level, the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity regulates housing laws against people with disabilities, however statistics like these show there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done.  Fortunately, in Portland Oregon there are several organizations that work with and provide resources to people with disabilities, check out the links below to get involved or learn more. Fair Housing Advocacy Committee : A committee based in Portland to further fair housing oppertunity Project SEARCH –This organization provides employment opportunities for people with developm...

    Picture from Koin Article There are many youth in Portland who are houseless, even if it can be hard to tell just how many. While I  was able to find statistics for houselessness in Portland for 2022 (about 6,633 people), the annual count  is not entirely accurate. I also have not been able to find a count of how many youth are houseless more  recently than 2020 , where it was estimated there were about 1,314 unaccompanied houseless youth. It  is very likely that there are even more, but the pandemic has not made it easy to do an accurate count. Many of these houseless youth have other things going on that make it more difficult. Such things as  mental health issues and/or discrimination from ttheir families for (largely) being LGBTQ+ can  cause/perpetuate houselessness for people. As such, houseless youth want to be near places that  provide resources for such issues. And there are many organizations that do so. Helping houseless...

     Food Not Bombs is an international organization that was created in the 80’s in order to deliver free food to communities. Their goals encompass the idea of sustainability and community engagement   while providing food to those who might otherwise go hungry that day. The Portland chapter has been involved in food gatherings for many years and they set up potluck style vegan and mostly organic meals transported via their bicycles. Unfortunately they are currently looking for volunteers and have had to shut down some of their weekly operations due to lack of support. If you would like to get involved please contact the organization directly to find out where support is needed.   Contact Info Here is a video of one of their amazing projects during the 2013 "Right to Dream" campaign. Acknowledging that a person is a human by sharing a meal with them might be one of the most simple yet satisfying gifts we can provide. By fulfilling this basic human need, we can...

Image source: Pexels It is not uncommon to spot a four-legged, furry friend tagging along an individual who has found themselves houseless. According to Kerman, Gran-Ruaz, and Lem (2019), pet ownership is—in fact—a reality for an estimated 5 to 25% of people who have no permanent housing. These individuals have chosen to stick with their family members, their most loyal companions, but do bystanders react positively to such duos? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Is the Companionship Worth it? Houseless individuals who have pets are often ridiculed for exposing their beloved animals to a “distressing lifestyle”, but the reality is that the bond between the owner and the pet is more symbiotic than anything, and thus, beneficial to both despite the lack of reliable housing. Essentially, the pet is spared from an unstable, overcrowded shelter environment where there is no promise of proper love and attention, and the owner is provided with a multitude of benefits, such as emotional support...

In recent years, there’s been a semantic shift from the term homeless to the more widely preferred houseless to describe individuals without housing. Like me, you may be wondering why. According to Do Good Multnomah , a non-profit organization that works to provide housing and low-barrier emergency shelter to houseless Veterans in Portland, the reasons are varied. Broadly speaking, there is stigma associated with the word homeless . It has connotations that individuals living a housing-unstable existence may not embrace.  In order to effectively serve underrepresented communities, it seems imperative that organizations include members of said communities in the discussion. And Do Good uses the term houseless in internal and external communications because they’ve done just that. As is stated on their Website: “We… listen to the preference[s of the population we serve] and make the conscious effort to empower our participants in any way we can, which sometimes means adjusting our...

Cameron Parker  Homelessness Blog  I would say that the main problem with how homelessness starts is the lack of education that Americans get around the country as well as the lack of affordable housing that there is, in the United States. I think that there should be ways to ensure that everybody around the country is able to get the basic education that they need in order to get their life on track as well as getting started with a lower income job right away. This is personal to me because living in Portland, Oregon there are so many homeless people filled all around downtown, and it’s starting to get even worse as the years go by and more jobs lost.  Also attending Portland State University you can see it first hand with all the tents and homeless people walking around. Another reason why this is a big deal to me is because of the amount of needles that are left on the ground unattended to as well. When going on a run or walking to get some food or a drink, people...

  Portland Street Response           In the past, homelessness was seen as more of a personal issue and one that was individual affecting only the unhoused. What we know is that homeless populations and those suffering from mental health crisis are a community issue and a national issue. To help solve these outstanding social dilemmas, we are gaining more knowledge and insight into what it means to build strong healthy communities. One factor is considering how populations are addressed and by whom. While in the past police officers would often give people “One chance for our help” we are now considering or more compassionate view. When we start asking “What do you need?” we consider the persons opinion to have value. One group of social workers in the Portland Metro is applying this method today.   https://www.rand.org/blog/rand-review/2021/03/rethinking-how-police-respond-to-homelessness.html              ...