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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 2013)
Street roots Sept. 13, 2013 I i 4il»~ i i ■ i 13 L*y ' Now is not the time to give up on those who are homeless ast week, a young, frightened woman incidents, the articles only tackle a fraction phoned my Multnomah County office of the story. A more complete picture would looking for help. She was a mother, show that the homeless population in with three children, who needed housing. Multnomah County include: The family had been doubling up with a 1. Parents who are raising children. The relative, but now that relative was moving number of families who are homeless out of town. She needed help immediately. increased 18 percent since the last point-in She’d called the shelters in Portland, but time Count. they were full and most had a six-week 2. Newly homeless. More than half the waiting list. She was growing desperate. people sleeping on our streets have been Her call hit particularly close to home. homeless for less than a year. In other I m a mother and I have three children. I words, just a year ago, they had homes and know too well how hard it is to get three many of them had jobs. In fact, many of kids fed, clothed and ready for school, to them still do have jobs. arrange childcare, pay bills, keep up with 3. Military veterans. More than one in 10 vaccinations, struggle to help them with of our homeless adults served this country. math homework, meet with their teachers, 4. Young people. On any given night, counsel them about bullies, to care for them there are at least 100 homeless youths on physically, emotionally and mentally in waiting lists for a shelter bed. today’s increasingly complicated world. What the headlines do capture is that our But, I cannot imagine what it’s like to do system is at capacity. Multnomah County, all that while homeless. the City of Portland, Home Forward and Too many of our mothers and fathers do community partners have helped thousands know, though. Between low vacancy rates, into homes in the last decade with smart rising rents and the lingering effects of the strategic spending on programs like rapid recession, on any given night in Multnomah re-housing, flexible rent assistance, and County, more than 2,869 people are permanent supportive housing for those homeless, according to the 2013 point-in with addictions and disabilities. time Count. Yet the federal government, paralyzed by Reading the painful headlines this sequestration, is actually serving fewer summer, it’s tempting to want to throw up households and with lower benefits. The our hands. result is that despite our best efforts so far, “Violent Attacks amid seasonal rise in too many people in our community cannot homeless population raise tension in city,” afford a place to live. Last November, for The Oregonian, July 22, 2013 instance, when Home Forward opened up “Homeless Camp in SE Portland the Section 8 voucher waiting list for the Frustrates Neighbors, Homeless” The first time in years, they received 21,000 Oregonian, July 26, 2013 applications in one week. Yet, under the “Three Blocks of SW Fourth Are A most optimistic scenarios, only 3,000 of Homeless Camp” Portland Mercury, June 7, those households will be helped in the next 2013 five years. While it’s reasonable for the press to We have reached a critical crossroads: we inform the community about these can either stay the course and hope that L Deborah Kafoury Deborah Kafoury is the M ultnom ah County Commissioner for District 1. She can be reached a t deborah. kafoury@multco.gov forces outside Oregon’s borders like Congress and the national economy will somehow resolve this issue. Or, we can boldly step together in a new direction. We can start by knocking down the artificial boundaries of a 30-year-old agreement that made the city of Portland responsible for chronically homeless individuals and Multnomah County responsible for homeless families. Instead of this archaic system with gaps and unintentional overlaps, we can create a new . The federal government, unified hub that will paralyzed by sequestration, pool our scarce Is actually serving fewer resources, encircle households and w ith lower our community benefits, The result Is that partners and inspire despite our best efforts so our partners in business and far, too many people in onr philanthropy. com m unity cannot afford a Toward that end, I stand with City Commissioner Dan Saltzman for his recent pledge of additional funds for housing. I commit to working with my Colleagues at Multnomah County to respond in kind. And I call for a new unified effort that more closely aligns our entire efforts, streamlines our administration and re-focuses on attention toward building on what we know works. We are one community and we must work as one. This week, we know that there are far too many children who dressed for their first day of school at a homeless shelter. Let’s help their mothers and fathers bring them soon to a safe and secure home. Sum m er by Avendor Dignity Poverty )ver 6 million people worldwide vote for dignity over poverty vhen they buy street press. By doing so. th e y help vendors n 40 co u n tries, selling' over lOO different titles, to change h e ir lives. In re tu rn , re a d e rs enjoy quality, ind ep en d en t o u rn a lis m . in th e know ledge th a t th e y ’ve m ad e a difference. Vote for Dignity. International Network of Street Papers Summer glory of sun, importance of water, solace of shade. Vain assemblies, warm pennies bustling laundromats, the thoughtful elderly... Children chasing children, butterflies crossing their paths wars, fires, overheated cars cold beer, rock festivals, moonlight carousing. Monks in monasteries, fruitsellers in tents lovers on a park bench, college-bound students gearing up; and I doing my duties yearning for joys and portents of loveliness
