The Value of Shelters in Our Communities

 

(Image Description: Woman paints rainbow colors on wooden posts for the Queer Affinity Village)

 “Focus on providing permanent supportive housing - that's what solves homelessness.” One of many comments on the community survey summary of the Homelessness Response Action Plan, a two year plan created by Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. At its face value, providing more permanent housing makes sense. Homelessness occurs because people don’t have a home, so just make more homes. Problem solved. Right?

Like all things in life, it’s not that easy. In an article written by Lauren Everett for the Metro News, “Portland area is short about 89,000 homes for households making 50% or less of the Area Median Income” and in 2018, a bond was passed to create “4,700 new affordable apartments across greater Portland.” In other words, in 2018, we committed $652.8 million in an attempt to alleviate approximately 5% of our housing crisis. That’s not accounting for the post-COVID-19 world we live in now, where many struggled to stay employed. While of course, building permanent housing should be continuously invested in, there is more that needs to be done if we ever wish to see Portland free from this overwhelming crisis.

So let’s talk about temporary relief. While discussing every form of aid the city can provide is beyond the scope of this article, I want to talk about the importance of temporary shelters and villages whose aim is to give alternate options to those currently living on the streets. Naturally, it could be argued that resources aimed towards these villages take away resources that could have gone to more housing. Why make tiny homes that someone spends an average of 100 nights in, when you could make tiny homes that a few people could live in permanently? The purpose of temporary shelters is to provide relief while creating an infrastructure that better smooths the process of getting people off the streets and finding continued support.

Shelters as mental health relief - It is reductive to say that living on the streets is hard. The instability and risk it involves eats away at one’s mind and body. Having a regulated space where you can sit alone can be a massive stabilizing force while you wait for better solutions.

Shelters as next steps - Shelters and Villages are run by workers who understand the greater systems currently in place. They are not just places to sleep for the night, but places to create plans, fill out paperwork, and discover options that may have not been previously known.

Shelters as queer refuge - Portland is notoriously queer accepting, and with recent discourse surrounding queer - and especially trans - lives in our country, many have moved here to escape their dangerous living situations. By having shelters such as the Queer Affinity Village, queer people are able to immediately move to Portland and find safe haven, even if they have little to their name.

Temporary shelters and homes are critical in supporting the homeless population and are vital to some of the success in relieving this crisis. Solving homelessness is more than just solving the lack of homes, but involves an infrastructure that understands the issue holistically. Previous attempts at solving these issues have not seen the success Portland is looking for, however I maintain hope that this new Homelessness Response Action Plan will push us in the right direction. If you are interested in finding out how you can volunteer and help make Portland become a safer place for everyone, check out here. In a future article, I wish to write about how people become victims of homelessness, and discuss the opportunities we have to prevent this from occurring in the first place.