Vulnerable People and Places Blog

        I entered the Native American Student Community Center early afternoon. I don't visit often but I often recognize its roof whenever I'm getting food at Victor's Dining Hall or Chipoltle. I'll admit that I did step up to the quiet building with a little trepidation. The exhibit I was here to see was on a topic that like most people, I'd been guilty of looking away from. Homelessness isn't a happy subject, and here I was to see a gallery of comics created by Portland State Students who had at some point in their lives experienced homelessness. Was I about to walk into this lovely building all happy and cheery and walk out incredibly depressed?  I didn't know, but the following day I was scheduled to talk to Dr. Kacy McKinney, a professor of Community Development, Visual Artist, and Feminist Geographer (didn't know that last one so I know what rabbit hole I'm going down next), who was one of the lead researchers that helped make this exhibit. I ...

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...