Vulnerable People and Places Blog

  Photo from Katu.com Have you ever heard from people in Oregon, or even outside of Oregon constantly talk about how there are too many people in Portland that are homeless and that it is a rising problem? They are not wrong and there is more than just the reason as most would say, “People do not care”, “They are just a bunch of druggies!”, “Well that is what happens when you keep Portland weird!”. This is not always the case especially when there is such a rise in AI. AI doesn’t just impact the earth and environment but people’s jobs which is the only way to afford living. Oregon is number 17 for the highest likelihood of job loss due to AI taking over. If this is not a problem, it should be. Jobs are at high risk every day and you will never know when it will happen to you. I know everyone has had this thought that I'll just get a new job. Then that new job is taken over by AI employees, and it is a never-ending cycle of losing jobs, gaining jobs and losing that said job again. E...

 Have you ever walked through downtown Portland and noticed rows of tents lining the streets? Often, we might just glance at them and keep walking. In Portland, this scene is becoming increasingly common. But what’s more concerning isn’t the sight itself, but the growing problem behind it. When you walk through downtown and see people pushing shopping carts or wrapped in blankets, have you ever wondered what if, one day, that person were you? Homelessness may seem like something far removed from our lives, but in reality, it can happen to anyone. A single job loss, an unexpected medical bill, or a rent hike can suddenly strip a person with a stable life of everything they have. Today, more and more people are being pushed out of their lives and onto the streets, yet we habitually turn a blind eye. The question isn’t why they’re there, but, why is this becoming increasingly common? The issue of homelessness is not merely about “people without homes”; behind it lie rising housing cos...

Photo by Michał Parzuchowski on Unsplash When Portland's 2021 heat dome killed 69 people in a single week, most of us pictured the same thing: someone unhoused, caught outside with nowhere to go. It's a reasonable assumption. People sleeping on pavement during a 116-degree afternoon should be in the most danger, and they are at risk. But the medical examiner's data tells a different story, and it's one worth sitting with. Of those 69 deaths during the heat dome, four were homeless . The other 65 were people who lived in houses and apartments. The 2022 heat wave was similar: of five confirmed heat deaths, only one person was unhoused. In summer 2024, Multnomah County recorded 14 heat-associated deaths, and again, just one of those people was without a home. Two out of every three people who have died from extreme heat in Multnomah County since 2021 were men over 50. Most lived alone. Most did not have working air conditioning, or did not turn it on. That desc...