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street roots
Sept. 27, 2013
P
B
W
f t B
R2DToo could be good neighbor in the Pearl
f l l . .
Funding package fo r women
essential fo r success
he number can stop you in your tracks. 122. It’s six
hours before darkness and you’re number 122 on
the list to get into the Salvation Army’s emergency
women’s shelter. You’re homeless, and you’ve just made a
break from your abuser. With the kindness of strangers, a
phone, and a safe room you find hope.
And then you find out you’re number 122, and that was
the one place that actually put you on a list. The other calls
to shelters yielded only apologies.
That happened just recently at Street Roots. We gave the
woman a bus pass to the Gateway Center out at 103rd
Avenue. Once on the train, her abuser tried to come at
her, but he was kept off long enough until the doors
closed. Once at
Gateway, a plan forward
For too long the city and
could begin, but she still
county have parsed out
had to find her own
populations and services,
shelter for the night,
when a more concerted
approach, with streamlined and she eventually
stayed at a friend’s
processes, would better
apartment. It was only
serve our community.
for the night. We haven’t
seen her since, and that
was over a week ago.
While we hope that she’s moved on, maybe escaped her
abuser with distance, we know that she is far from alone.
There are nearly 1,000 women sleeping on local streets or
in shelters every night, up 22 percent over the last time
such a count was conducted in 2011. The city has two
women’s shelters with a combined capacity of 154 beds:
One has a wait list of 129 women, the other, 209.
City Commissioner Dan Saltzman has long-championed
women and children in need, with strong advocacy for the
Gateway Center and the Children’s Levy. Now with the
city’s housing and homeless programs under his watch,
Saltzman has brought forth a proposal that takes advantage
of the common bonds. Saltzman is implementing a $1.7
million plan that focuses on getting women and families
out of homelessness, bypassing the shelter system and
reinforcing stable housing. Shelters have their place, but
they are overflowing, bottlenecked by a lack of stable
housing and funding for people working to get off the
streets. It is a sound investment that pays dividends in the
lives and families it restores, and the children who grow up
in a safe and thriving environment.
Fortunately, the first tranche of the money, $300,000,
has been approved and directed to the Housing Bureau to
get 92 women off the streets and into housing as soon as
possible.
County Commissioner Deborah Kafoury has also pledged
to step up financial support, and together, we trust the city
and county can work more closely on the big-picture work
ahead. For too long the city and county have parsed out
populations and services, when a more concerted
approach, with streamlined processes, would better serve
our community.
The urgency for ramping up consolidated efforts is ever
present. This past week, Portland police investigated a
case of a 19-year-old woman who was sexually assaulted by
a stranger while sleeping in her friend’s car. It was after 3
a.m., on the inner Eastside. The suspect fled and remains
at large. No women should be so vulnerable.
We have programs that work, and work well given the
resources. We hope to see the city and county work
together for everyone’s future success.
T
understood. I don’t care if your income is
or many, the Pearl District represents
zero. You live in the Pearl, you must be
a neighborhood on the rise — a
rich. It doesn’t matter. You’re never going
shining example of how to plan urban
to win the argument. Everybody starts from
growth, public transportation, sustainability,
nothing. We all started from nothing. We
parks and the
have great empathy.
environment. The list
“We’ve been really clear that we want
goes on. Add a bustling
long-term solutions for housing,” Gardner
food and art scene, a
says passionately. “The city is going to
growing tech
spend money to put this camp here. The
community, and a
By Israel Bayer
money could go to build something else,
neighborhood that
something real that actually solves the
prides itself on walking
problem. We want to solve the problem and
and cycling, the light
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
to not just have Band-Aids. It rains in
hp>crinc tn s h in p PVPn
Street Roots. You can
Oregon, so lets live in a tent — like, bad
brighter.
reach him at
idea.”
Where else in Portland does the luxury
israel@streetroots. org
I don’t even know where to start.
of life blossom more than in the Pearl
or follow him on
Let’s start with politics. For the record,
Twitter @israelbayer.
District? The Pearl District is a
there are thousands of people violating land
neighborhood where ideas and innovations
use rules and laws in our city every single
can be developed, crafted and supported.
night who are homeless. Essentially, nearly
The neighborhood is home to both the rich
two thousand people in our city are “illegal”
and the poor. Twenty-two percent of the
because they have no home or shelter. No
neighborhood’s rental units are dedicated
law can or will change the fact that we have
to low-income housing. It supports nearly a
a massive shortage of affordable housing
dozen Street Roots vendors day in and day
and that we have human beings who are
out and has a strong philanthropic spirit.
enduring unimaginable living conditions
It’s home to Powell’s Books. Need I say
because of their homelessness.
more?
Gardner is spot on in thinking that we
That’s why I was extremely disappointed
have to work towards long-term solutions
when I heard that the people representing
for housing. The question then becomes
one of the most successful and affluent
who is responsible for taking care of those
neighborhoods in Portland would be so
who will sleep outside tonight? The politics
quick to shoot down the idea of welcoming
surrounding that question are many, but
Right 2 Dream Too (R2DToo), a tent city
one thing is for certain, people do live and
created by people experiencing
die on our streets. There’s no getting
homelessness.
around it.
Within a week of the news breaking that
The idea that somehow that landowners,
the city and R2DToo had reached an
developers and residents in the Pearl have
agreement on a piece of property in the
somehow been wronged and are actually
Pearl owned by the Portland Development
the victims of the lack of public process
Commission, the neighborhood association
doesn’t hold much water. Few
earmarked $10,000 from its rainy-day fund
to pay for legal services to fight the city and neighborhoods in Portland have benefited -
so much from public input and support.
R2DToo’s effort to move into the
According to the Portland Development
neighborhood.
Commission, from 2000-13 there has been
An audio recording of the Pearl District’s
$260.3 million in public investment that’s
Neighborhood Association’s meeting on
WHAT DO
gone to support the River District or the
Sept. 12 was given to Street Roots.
YOU THINK?
Pearl. With that kind of public support, it’s
Patricia Gardner, the Pearl District’s
ridiculous that the Pearl Neighborhood
neighborhood chair, led spirited testimony
Send letters to the
Association and other larger players are
on why the camp doesn’t belong in the
editor to Street
screaming foul. Please.
Pearl District.
Roots, 211 N W Davis
Let’s talk about R2DToo for a moment.
After the passage of the resolutions to
Portland Police Bureau spokesman Sgt.
allocate money to fight the camp, Gardner
St., Portland, OR
Pete Simpson told me recently, “Central
went on to say, “What we want to do is
97209, or e-mail to
Precinct officers report that R2DToo has
focus in on the politics. That’s the quickest
joanne@streetroots.org.
not been a problem for police as it seems
and easiest way to get rid of this.”
Gardner told the crowd. “My opinion is
self-managed.”
that their lawyer at the city is telling them
Self-managed. Isn’t that at the heart of
to avoid process so they don’t open up.
the American community? A group of
That’s our challenge moving forward.”
individuals working to better their lives,
“What we’ve been telling people to do is
regardless of their circumstances.
write to their commissioners,” says
Like them or not, R2DToo is an example
Gardner. “Let’s talk about the lack of
of a group of people experiencing
public process, the lack of following their
homelessness that are pulling themselves
own laws. That’s really the root of the issue
up by the bootstraps. They may not be
here.”
providing the living conditions that most
Gardner goes on to talk about the
Portlanders might consider healthy, or that
neighborhood being the victim in this
Gardner or some politicians speak of, but
process, “Because of the misunderstanding
believe me, the conditions at R2DToo are
of this neighborhood, we will never be
F
See R2DToo, page 3
Executive Director Israel Bayer
Street Roots
211 NW Davis St.
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax: 503-227-3117
streetroots.org
news.streetroots.org
israei@streetroots.org
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl
joanne@streetroots.org
Vendor Coordinator Cole Merkel
coie@streetroots.org
Operations Director Sarah Beecroft
Program Assistant Grace Badik, Jesuit Volunteer,
grace@streetroots.org
Development Director Sarah Cloud
Office Assistant Amber Bielman
Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Nathan
Gilles, Sue Zalokar
Photographers Kristina Wright, Christopher
Onstott
Volunteers
Mary Pados, Jan Bayer, Ann Ereline, Vinnie Kinsella,
Ann-Derrick Caillot, Joe Thick, Stacey Heath, Taurin
Skinner-Macginnis, Bethany Hague, Michelle Holbert,
John Lisifka, Raven Canoles, Michelle Breslau, Paula
Cracas, Sharron Thompson, John Barker, Mary Locke
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 guides, call 503-228-5657.
Resources are also available online at
www.rosecityresource.org.
goes directly to the vendor
Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office.