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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (May 10, 2013)
2 street roots May 10, 2013 BDIIOBiat Team Street Roots is working on many fronts Death on the streets is cruel, S premature and preventable ast year, 56 people died while experiencing homelessness in Multnomah County. In 2011, the figure was 47. In addition to these numbers, we know th a t even more people on the streets died in local hospitals that were not counted by the medical examiner. Why should we care? On its face, what does the number 56 even mean? In an age when we are overwhelmed with the number of people dying for any number of poverty-related issues, it’s hard to give context to what the numbers mean. What we know: Research shows that people experiencing homelessness age prematurely. We know that homelessness takes a toll, mentally and physically, on the human body. We also know that homelessness contributes to death at far too young an age. This year the average age of death was 46. in many cases, the manner of death was These individuals were not horrendous. only someone's family, or Someone burned to friend, they were human beings that conld have gone death, one froze to on to do great things in death, and another their lives given the chance. drowned. Seven people died of heart and vascular disease. Ten people committed suicide, possibly due to the lack of hope. Twenty individuals suffered of drug- or alcohol-related deaths. The list goes on. When you begin to think of it in term s of how many people are dying each year while homeless, across the United States, the number may be in the thousands. We as a community should pause and understand that each one of these individuals were human beings and passed away far to early in life. What should we do? Housing is not only the safest way to provide people adequate health care, it’s also the most cost effective. Housing should be a key component in Oregon’s strategy for health care reform, period. We know that by providing people a safe and stable home that we can give people the opportunity to live long and successful lives. Suicide prevention must also be a focus among people experiencing poverty, whether someone is actually homeless or about to fall into homelessness. Among the biggest keys to suicide prevention is education, an adequate health care network and a strong social safety net. Opiate overdoses continue to be an overall public health problem throughout Oregon. We must do better to explore harm reduction models that let health care providers engage and work with I.V. drug users. That includes education, needle exchange programs and thinking about out-of-the-box methods used in other parts of the world, such as injection sites. We know harm reduction models of health care work when given the chance. Moving forward, Street Roots, Multnomah County and the city of Portland will continue to track the outcomes of people on the streets and advocate for the social safety net. These individuals were not only someone’s family, or friend, they were human beings that could have gone on to do great things in their lives given the chance. Creating and maintaining safe and stable housing for people in distress is one way we can honor those who have passed, and prevent thousands more from having the same fate. treet Roots has been very busy on the believe by partnering with a wide-range of homeless advocacy and policy front as community members and interests we can of late. get there. Street Roots, along Another priority in the housing front is with many of our health care reform. Money for housing partners are helping lead should be considered a key strategy in the, “We are the Safety driving down the costs of health care. Net” campaign. The Street Roots has also worked to deter campaign has worked legislation in Salem that will impact local very hard to secure local communities throughout Oregon and allow B y Israel Bayer funding for homeless for local governments to create stricter and housing services. sidewalk laws. The legislation appears to be a The campaign worked runaway train. In the coming months expect with people experiencing a lively debate among advocates for the poor, poverty to tell a broader narrative through business groups and City Hall. social media about obtaining housing and We believe the issue of sidewalks and accessing services. At the same time, the panhandling detracts from the larger goal of coalition worked very hard with local officials getting people off the streets. We also believe to help secure funding. very much in the civil rights of people We’re happy to report that the city is experiencing poverty. Whatever the outcome prioritizing the safety net for the most part of the legislation for stricter sidewalk law — and funding more than one million dollars in we hope something productive will come out programs that many thought were lost. of the conversations. Commissioner Steve Novick told Street Lastly, Street Roots has worked hard to Roots, “I’m very pleased that the safety net advocate for and co-author the second annual programs have been preserved, it reflects Domicile Unknown report (See page 3), The our values in City Hall.” Amazing. report looks at how many homeless people It’s important to also recognize the passed way last year and offers a small leadership at Multnomah County for glimpse in the harsh realities of prioritizing the safety net. The county has homelessness. We believe by tracking this projected a multi-million dollar increase to data that we will eventually be able to build funding for human service programs that the political will to create some real include rent assistance, programs for preventive measures to deter the experience runaway youth and homeless families. of homelessness all together. Saying that, we still have work to do. We Street Roots is a small train that carries a have numerous programs that still face an heavy load in the community. We hope the uphill battle, including needle exchange, advocacy work we do reflects this. From our mental health services and more. ,Over the ihdepth reporting and platform for people past three decades we’ve seen the federal and communities that are underserved, to government slash funding: for poverty the vendor program that helps more than programs and the recent recession has 500 people each year improve their quality of compounded the problem. We still face a life, to publishing more than 100,000 Rose massive shortage of affordable rental and City Resource Guides, we are constant subsidized housing. Street Roots will not rest optimists at Street Roots. Even in the face of until we feel like we as a community have the some of the crudest conditions human tackled these important priorities. beings endure, we believe in the power of One of the most important pieces of the people and community. We believe in the puzzle to maintaining adequate services and power of love. But just as important, we giving individuals and families the believe in working hard and providing opportunity to be successful is identifying a solutions to some of the most difficult long-term, permanent funding source for problems our city and society face. We are homeless and housing services. Street Roots along with our partners will continue to proud to have so many readers on bur team. Thank you. explore and work toward this goal. We & MSK Israel Bayer is the executive director o f Street Roots. You can reach him at israel@streetroots. org or follow him on Twitter @israelbayer. Caution By Anonymous Enter a world of possibilities Where the mind’s imagination Is never ending, where your brain Can become consumed By images of naked pixels, Where the numbers 0 & 1 Can make your eyes run From one end of the screen To the other. Behold the Internet. Our mission Street Roots creates incorre oppoftuniiies f o r ' people experiencing homelessness end poverty by producing a newspaper end other media that are catalysts for individual and sodal change. Street Roots publishes every tw o weeks, launching on Fridays, and is available exclusively through our street vendors or by subscription. We are proud members of the North American Street, Newspaper Association and the International Network of Street Papers Street Roots 211 NW Davis St. Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax: 503-227-3117 www.streetroots.org www.news.streetroots.org Vendors Executive Director Israe Bayer H isRBeWtreetroots.org . •■ ’ * r- Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl - jo3nne@streetroots.org Vendor Coordinator Cole Merkel cole@streetroots.org Operations Director Sarah Beecroft Program Assistant Kara Dimitruk, J e su it’ Volunteer AmeriCorps Member kara@streetroots.org Development Director Sarah Cloud Development Assistant Cynthia Kieht Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Nathan Gilles, Robert Britt, Sue Zalokar, Erin Fenner Photographers Leah Nash, Ken Hawkins, Kristina Wright, Christopher Onstott Stay connected with us online through Facebook and Twitter Bruce Arderson (Cha/manj, Michael Anderson (Vre- cnairr’ani, Heathe’ Stadick (Treasurer». Eddy Barbosa (Secretaiy), Rich Rodgers, Brad Tayfor, h o Rhodtes, ‘ I Ken Hawkins, Amber Volunteers < 1 Street Roots vendors buy the newspapers for 25 cents \ fechardsel :nem for Si, keeping the 7Scen‘s in '' o u f vendors, we receive additional support t o n " : donations and In-kind contributions. Mary Pacios, 3an8ayer,ArifiErelinei\^nn»eKfn$etla, : Sharron Thompson, Ann-Derrick Gailfot, A rt Garcia, Joe Thick, Stacey Heath, Taurin Skinner-Macginnis, Bethany Hague, Michelle Holbert, John Lisifka, Raven CaRC.es Street Roots Rose City Resource Street Roots publishes the Rose City Resource, a comprehensive booklet of services for people experiencing homelessness and poverty, To inquire about getting an order o f the Rose City Resource for distribution, please write to pdxrosecityresource@gmail.com. Resources are also available online at www.rosecityresource.org. 75 goes directly to the vendor who sold you the paper 25c goes toward printing costs Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office.
