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Aug. 19, 2011
At 20, Potluck in the Park
feeds an evergrowing need
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BY ISRAEL BAYER
South Park Blocks to elderly, low-income
and the homeless staying in the area. The
otluck in the Park, the all-volunteer
move to O’Bryant Square has brought a mix
organization, is turning 20 years old
of people experiencing homelessness,
this month. Street Roots had the
veterans, families, travelers and the
chance to talk to longtime political and civic
disabled. We became geographically
activist David Utzinger, who has been with
desirable to people staying in the northern
the organization nearly all of that time. The
end of downtown, Chinatown/Old Town and
organization works to nourish and enrich
on the river.
the lives of individuals in need by providing
Our meal count increased dramatically
nutritious meals every Sunday in downtown
when
Blanchet House stopped serving a
Portland. This year alone the organization
Sunday meal in 2008. We hit 21,165 meals,
has provided 12,726 healthy meals.
up 15 percent. We currently feed 400 to
650 guests weekly.
Israel Bayer: Potluck in the Park is
S T A F F W R IT E R
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turning 20 years old, this month. Looking
back what are some of the highlights you have
seen with the organization and the people it
serves?
David Utzinger: Potluck struggled in
early years with how to stay small and
grassroots. More recently has been the
realization that to serve a growing guest list
we needed to increase our food sources and
get our own kitchen. We joined Birch
Gleaners and the Oregon Food Bank in
2008 and began cooking in leased kitchen
space in 2009. The result has been good
quality and more nutritional food.
From the timé we "started in the South
Park Blocks, our guests have been a racially
and ethnically diverse mix of the homeless
and people with low-income housing.
I.B.: How have you seen the relationship
between food and low-income people evolve over
the years in Portland?
D.U.: Until 1996, we served meals in the
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I.B.: What’s happening at Potluck in the
Park today, and what can we expect in the
future?
D.U.: Today we rent a good-sized, fully
equipped, licensed kitchen for food storage,
meal preparation and cleanup. The space is
potentially suitable for collaboration with
other nonprofits or small businesses.
Our community, partners are the key to.
Potluck’s success now and in the future. We
need more businesses, food donors and
volunteer groups to join us. As an
all-volunteer, grassroots nonprofit, we are
always looking for new Board members
willing to work on fundraising and
sponsorships.
Our guest counts are higher than they
have ever been. With the future of the
economy in doubt, we see no sign of this
letting up.
To support by volunteering or donating,
visit www.potluckinthepark. org.
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P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F P O T L U C K IN T H E P A R K
David Utzinger directs volunteers from the back of the signature green Potluck truck. Utzinger
has watched the public Sunday meal grow from a small guest list to 400 to 650 people each
week.
City's housing director takes focus to the state level
BY JOANNE ZUHL
S T A F F W R IT E R
ortland Housing Bureau Director
Margarêt Van Vliet is leaving her role
with the city to become the new
director of the Oregon
Housing and
Community Services
Department. The
OHCS is Oregon’s
housing finance
agency to generate
affordable housing for
Oregonians of lower
and moderate income.,
Van Vliet will leave
Margarêt
her position with thé
Van vliet
Portland Housing
Bureau Sept. 15. '
“I want to see housing be front and
center,”-Van Vliet told Street Roots.
“Housing has been a little bit on the sidebar,
and relegated to Second or third to public
and private proprieties. I want to raise the
profile of the issue, and be at the table
when other conversations are happening
about job creation, about the health profile
in this or that community: What’s thé
housing problem that sits underneath that?
It tends to be an afterthought, so my
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highest value and priority is to get it more
entrenched in the public thinking about
what’s important and what we need to
address in the community.”
Commissioner Nick Fish appointed Van
Vliet two years ago to helm the city’s
housing operations as it transitioned from
the Bureau of Housing and Community
Development into the Portland Housing
Bureau. Fish told Street Roots that he has
mixed feelings about her departure.
“On the one hand, a feeling of great
pride, that the governor has selected
Margaret to lead the state’s housing efforts,
and I think it’s a testament to how
respected she, is, not just here in Portland,
but statewide, and she’ll do a great job. But
at the same time, ! will miss working with
her. Over the past two years, we created a
new bureau, the PHB, and she has a
remarkable record of accomplishment.”
Fish noted the completion of the Bud
Clark Commons and the’ ground breaking of
Veterans’ housing at Block 49 among those
accomplishments.
“At the state level,” Fish said, “She’ll be in
a position to be enormously helpful to
Portland and the cause of affordable
housing.”
Van Vliet joins a state agency that is
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under pressure to do more with les^in
terms of supporting housing for poor
Oregonians. One bit of good news arrived
earlier this month when the state learned it
would have a second chance to secure
Section 8 management funds from the feds.
The U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development, or HUD, announced
July 1 that the OHCS was not selected to
continue serving as the Section 8 Housing
Assistance Payments Performance-Based
Contract Administrator for Oregon. It would
have been a $4.5 million loss to the state
agency.,
OHCS was scheduled to be replaced on
Oct. 1 by CMS Contract Management
Services from Bremerton, Wash. At the
time, Rick Crager, acting director of OHCS,
said the decision would impact how the
entire department administers programs. It
would also result in layoffs, and move the
oversight of project-based Section 8 housing
further away from Oregonian residents and
landlords. Oregon was one of many states
that filed a protest against the contract
award process.
“I’ve been watching that closely because
the city has a stake in what happens with
those Section 8 funds,” Van Vliet said. “It’s
certainly an indicator that government all
over the place has to step back and ask,
what are we doing; what are crucial services
and what does our funding allow us to do?”
On Aug. 10, HUD sent out letters to
those in appeals that it will essentially revise
and redo thebidding process, giving Oregon
anothér chance at restoring the contract.
The letters do not give any indication as to
the reason for the reconsideration, however
moves by HUD to consolidate and relocate
Section 8 management have been met by
widespread resistance at the state level.
The decision by HUD also gives the state
a six-month extension on the current
contractât reduced figures. It is also
expected that future contracts for Section 8
management will be less than they were in
the past. That reduction, coupled with rising
debt management costs, shrinking loan
portfolios and the increase rates of
foreclosure in residential load programs will
mean future cuts for the state’s housing
bureau, Crager said.
OHCS’s Contraction Administration
Section provides contract administration
services for approximately 280 contracts
encompassing 272 low-income properties in
Oregon.
coffee bean
I N T E R
N A T IO N A L *
We tip our mugs to Coffee Bean International for donating coffee to Street
Roots and keeping our vendors warm in the morning!
Thank you!
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