Vulnerable People and Places Blog

The Revolving Door Effect The Predatory System Targeted at Homeless Individuals      Formerly incarcerated individuals, especially those with multiple incarcerations, face a severe housing crisis upon release, with homelessness rates nearly 10 to 13 times higher than the general public . They frequently struggle to secure stable housing due to explicit discrimination from public housing authorities and private owners, using credit checks, income requirements, and other methods during screening processes. This pervasive instability often pushes individuals into marginal housing like hotels or motels, a small difference from literal homelessness, significantly hindering their ability to access essential resources like healthcare, employment, and education crucial for successful reentry.      This cycle of homelessness and incarceration is severely exacerbated by the criminalization of homelessness , through laws that prohibit essential survival behaviors s...

Hit While They're Down The Cycle of Homeless Incarceration      The connection between incarceration and homelessness in Portland, and across the nation, creates a harsh cycle that traps vulnerable individuals in systemic instability. People released from jails and prisons face a nearly ten times higher likelihood of experiencing homelessness than the general public . The more times it happens the chances of a way out become exponentially harder. As judgmental creatures and a system built of reputation, this grim reality fuels a "revolving door" effect: housing instability increases the chances of re-arrest and re-incarceration, while release from prison significantly elevates the risk of becoming homeless. This cycle is often exacerbated by local policies that criminalize basic survival behaviors for unhoused individuals, such as sleeping in public spaces.      Individuals experiencing homelessness, especially those with a history of incarceration, simply ...

  There are thousands across Oregon who are suffering from housing instability. Permanent Supportive Housing provides a model that brings an opportunity for housing along with services that will enable individuals to stay housed, such as job training and substance abuse treatment. Although the data on its effectiveness so far is limited since it’s a new approach, they can help bring us out of this crisis.  However, not everyone may feel comfortable going from living on the streets directly to an apartment complex. Additionally, most of these places are already completely full with massive waitlists. That is where places like Opportunity Village come in. They offer an alternative with transitional stability. The residents earn their keep by working on projects around the village to keep it up and running.  The village helps provide that much needed physical and emotional stability for its residents to plan ahead for the future as they work towards more permanent housing. S...

In Portland, where the crisis of housing insecurity remains urgent and visible, grassroots solutions are doing powerful work to meet people’s basic needs with dignity. One of the most impactful of these is the Community Free Store —a mutual aid effort grounded in compassion, solidarity, and trust. Unlike traditional charity models, mutual aid is about community members supporting each other directly, without hierarchy or strings attached. It operates on the belief that we all have something to offer, and we all deserve to have our needs met. At the Community Free Store , people experiencing homelessness or poverty can access essential supplies—clothing, hygiene items, snacks, harm reduction tools, and more—completely free of charge. Volunteers often organize, sort, and distribute donations in public spaces or through pop-up events. These spaces become more than just places to get help—they are places to be seen, welcomed, and treated with dignity. Why It Matters Immediate impact: A cle...

In the heart of downtown Portland, the Behavioral Health Resource Center (BHRC) stands as a beacon of compassion and stability for people navigating the difficult realities of homelessness, mental health challenges, and addiction. More than just a building, the BHRC is a trauma-informed, peer-led space that meets people where they are—with no judgment and no prerequisites. It offers a warm place to rest, connect, and access essential services. Showers, laundry, meals, and storage are available daily, but what truly sets the BHRC apart is its emphasis on dignity, empowerment, and community. Staffed by individuals who bring both lived experience and professional training, the center fosters connection through peer support, de-escalation, and mutual respect. Whether someone needs help navigating the mental health system, wants to explore recovery, or simply needs a break from the chaos of the street, the BHRC provides a space to breathe and rebuild. The center is a partnership between ...

One of the issues affecting the housing crisis in Portland is the way that it affects people of color. With black, native american, and latino residents that earn an average income and are still unable to avoid a home anywhere in the city in the year 2022. While there are income gaps with white households who earn $6,400 monthly compared to a black households who earn $3,000. With housing costs rising about 17% between 2016-2021 yet income increases were “significant” for white households while “only minimal” for households of color, creating a widening affordability gap. The rental market also shows similar disparities. The average rent for a two bedroom apartment is $1,904 which is completely unaffordable for black families and unaffordable for most of the city for Latino and Native American households. Even though the city created over 4,300 affordable housing units since they declared a housing emergency crisis in 2015. City commissioners have acknowledged that these efforts hav...

  Oregon’s housing crisis stems from decades of underproduction leaving the state 140,000 units short of what they actually need. It comes from multiple factors including restrictive land laws from 1973, as well as historically racist zoning policies for single families, and bad infrastructure funding. This directly impacts Portland residents' ability to afford housing because more than half of Oregon renters don't have enough money after paying rent to afford other basics, including food, child care, internet access and transportation. The severe housing shortage creates limited rental vacancies, allowing landlords to raise rents with few repercussions and pushing people into cost-burdened situations - exemplified by the article's featured friends who had to buy a house together because neither could afford one alone. To learn more visit this link https://www.opb.org/article/2023/07/26/oregon-cost-of-living-housing-construction-building-land-use-high-rent/

  When we talk about homelessness in Portland, the focus usually lands on the visibly unhoused. Adults on sidewalks, people living in cars, tents under bridges. But there is another side to the story. As of 2024, more than 2,300 students in Multnomah County are classified as homeless. These are teenagers attending school while couch surfing, living in shelters, or sleeping in cars with their families. These young people are often invisible. They do not always look homeless. They may carry a backpack, go to class, or even work a part-time job. But they are fighting battles that most students do not face. Many switch schools frequently, have trouble concentrating in class, or miss days due to transportation and instability. Portland Public Schools has resources through the McKinney-Vento program, which offers help with bus passes, school supplies, and connection to housing services. But demand outpaces funding. Teachers and counselors often have to stretch thin to support students wh...

  In the big and busy city of Portland, it is very easy to just focus on tents, trash, and the politics of homelessness. However, what often gets overlooked is one of the most basic human needs that many people living on the streets lack: hygiene. Without access to regular showers, clean clothes, or restrooms, the struggle to maintain dignity becomes just as real as the struggle to find food or shelter. Public restrooms in Portland are few and far between. Even when they are available, they often close at night or are heavily policed. For someone living outdoors, taking a shower can require a complicated mix of walking miles, waiting in line, and navigating shame. These barriers affect physical and mental health and make it harder for people to access jobs, healthcare, or even get into a shelter. Mobile hygiene units have started to fill this gap. Organizations like Sisters of the Road and Outside the Frame have worked in recent years to bring hygiene trailers with showers and sink...

  Temporary shelters in the Portland, OR area have multiple roadblocked points either legally or through their signup processes. In 2024, auditors from the City of Portland found that multiple shelters have waitlists that can stretch up to a year, are regularly at capacity, and are ineffective at moving people into permanent housing. The audit has also shown that city-managed shelters require a reservation before being allowed in, and yet there is no consistent process for scoring one. The report showed a variety of ways people obtained a shelter spot, from making a 2-1-1 call to getting a referral from the police. The longer someone is houseless, the risk of things like depression, anxiety, substance abuse, schizophrenia, weatherborne illnesses (hypothermia, heat stroke, etc.), and suicidal ideation and intention greatly increase. These risks are heightened further due to previously mentioned stigmas, general life instability, and inconsistent support services.    The ci...

     Portland, Oregon is facing an increasingly severe , affordable housing crisis due to a long- term housing production deficit , rising home prices, and widening income gaps. Oregon is one of the worst states in the country for underbuilding housing , as demand far exceeds supply with only 14,270 residential permits issued in 2024, and even fewer in recent years. Portland has gone from being an affordable housing market where underwriters viewed $80,000 as a sizable income gap between renters and prospective homebuyers , to almost a third of Portland households considered " cost-burdened " or spending more than 30% of their income on housing alone . To complicate this all are the historical patterns of gentrification and displacement, particularly for communities of color, which make the housing market even more unattainable for low- and middle-income Portland residents.      In the context o...

For homeless individuals lack of physical identification can lead to loss of phycological identity and dignity. In the State of Oregon there are several programs created to help individuals experiencing homelessness to obtain essential iden tifi cation , such as state ID and Birth Certifi cates.   The Oregon Health Authority offers a program for homeless individuals to obtain a copy of their birth certificate free of any charges. The facilities also can provide assistance in completing the necessary forms and having them submitte d for processing.   Oregon House Bill 3026 was passed in 2021 and it established that individuals experiencing homelessness can have the $44.50 fee waived when applying for a state ID c ard. To qualify individuals must provide documentation showing homeless status from any homeless service provider.   Such programs and assistance are crucial to help impower homeless individuals and to assist in overcoming barriers with regards to obta...