street roots
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April 25, 2014
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Looking to leadership, from on and off the streets
EDITORIAL
H
State must broaden cooperation
to help families in need
^ T \ h i s month, the Oregon Secretary of State’s office
released its audit of TANF — Temporary Assistance
to Needy Families. It is the collection of programs
that was once commonly understood as welfare, before
welfare became a disparaging term.
For decades, we have known recipients as households
thrown into poverty by myriad circumstances and
situations. But since the onset of the great recession,
we’ve come to know them better as friends, neighbors
and family.
TANF serves extremely poor families, the yast majority
of them with no income outside o f the program, Since
2007, TANF’s caseload has swelled as the recession
spread. The number of
single parent families
Self-sufficiency isn't just
nearly doubled between
a matter of personal
2007 and 2013: The
determination; it takes
number of two-parent
opportunity, health,
families increased
education and support.
fivefold.
It takes a responsive
It’s priority is two
economy, affordable
pronged — to stabilize,
housing and living
families and get parents
wages.
back to w ork
'Hie audit praises the
Oregon Departm ent of
Human Services TANF program for its effort to help
stabilize the expanding num bers of needy families, but it
is highly critical of its poor outcomes in getting parents
back to work. No wonder: Low-wage jobs have made
some recovery since the recession. Middle-income jobs
that could support a family have not recovered, arid state
budget cuts have crippled support services that help
people look for work and secure gainful employment.'
There is a list of detailed suggestions for improving
outcomes. j>ut.this audit reaches far beyond one program
ast week, on my way home to grab a
bite to eat before an event, I noticed 15
or so older women bedding down
together in Old Town. Their presence
stopped me in my tracks.
One elderly Woman, homeless for less than
a year, only received $700 from Social ,
Security and couldn’t
afford to pay for rent,
health care costs and a
quality of life. A shelter
was her only option.
Another woman was
running from domestic
B y Israel Bayer
violence. Another told
■ me she was dealing
with a physical
disability, and could barely get around. Her
dog was the only thing keeping from harming
herself. The list went on.
One woman, clearly dealing with a severe
mental health issue, was standing at the
doorway of the closed winter shelter, rocking
back and forth mumbling. “I know the shelter
is going to open tonight I just know it. They
wouldn’t leave us out here like this.”
I called a colleague, then a city official.
What was going on? Was it true that the
emergency winter shelter had closed for the
season? It was true. ;
The emergency women’s shelter will not
reopen until next winter.
After visiting the ladies, I walked across
the bridge to the Multnomah County
candidates forum on housing sponsored by
Street Roots and others. It had already been
a long day. I sat and cried. These women’s
stories hit me like a freight train. Their „
chiseled hands, their swollen feet and their
hardened faces. I pulled myself together, just
in time to shake hands and play the role of
an executive director in the Community-
IS
DIRECTOR'S
DESK
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f ,
Street Roots. You can
reach him a t
israel@streetroots.org
or follow him on •
Twitter @israelbayer.
WHAT DO
YOU THINK?
Send letters to the
editor to the Street
Roots office, 211
NW Davis St.,
Portland, OR 97209,
or e-mail to joanne®
streetroots.org
Witnessing someone overwhelmed with
the hardship of homelessness is both an
amazing and horrifying thing to experience.
There’s nothing logical about watching
poverty consume a human being. It s neither
kind nor romantic.
At the forum, candidates answered
questions about what they would do about
poverty in our community. I couldn’t stop
thinking about the women I had just talked
with. What would be the best way to
highlight their story? In a perfect world, it
would be writing a much bigger story,
highlighting their voices and possibly working
with a photographer. There wasn’t time for
th a t This cohiinn will have to do.
After emergency winter shelter closes this
year, an additional 70 women will be
homeless. They will join an estimated 1,600
individuals along with more than 600
children sleeping outdoors.
On the bright side, an official told me that
with an additional $300,000 invested by the
city, 107 households, including 26 families
and nearly 50 adult women were housed this
year. The project is called Women into
Housing Now, and led by the Portland
Housing Bureau and local’nonprofits.
The official also told me that the county
would be investing more dollars into rent
assistance for women and families, but it was
unclear whether this was actually an increase
in money or simply getting us back to a place
we were prior to the great recession. There
was also the $1.7 million bump by the city
and county this year which is helping house
scores of hard-to-reach and vulnerable folks
on the streets. We’re hoping that this money
will be carried over to next year.
What do these numbers mean to the
general public? Not much. What the general
See DIRECTOR'S DESK, page 3
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hard evidence to the urgent need for government
cooperation to eliminate the array of senseless — and
costly — barriers to self-sufficiency.
This includes partnerships with the state’s low-income a
health care delivery systems at levels that don’t occur
today. The potential, from coordinating with TANF is
almost boundless, from providing m ental health and
addiction services previously cut from TANF, to
eliminating physical health barriers to employment.
Better coordination is needed with higher education
outlets and vocational and apprenticeship programs to
improve employment options. There are isolated
examples of these partnerships working in Oregon. Let’s
build on them.
For decades, welfare recipients have been vilified for
receiving assistance in times of need, with failure laid a t
the feet of the poor. It would be a tragedy if this latest
report draws the same response. Because today we know
better. Self-sufficiency isn’t just a m atter of personal
determination; it takes opportunity, health, education and
support. It takes a responsive economy, affordable
housing and living wages. It takes commitments spanning
nonprofits and private organizations. Secretary of State
Kate Brown said that the state can’t operate in silos any
longer: neither can any government — federal state or
local — that wants to be effective in getting people out of
hom elessness and poverty and back to work and self-
sufficiency. As the saying goes, it takes a village.
PH O T O BY ISRAEL BAYER
Our mission
Staff
Board of Directors
Street Roots creates income opportunities for
people experiencing homelessness and poverty by
producing a newspaper and other media that are
catalysts for individual and social change. ,
Executive Director
Bruce Anderson (Chairman), Michael Anderson (Vice-
chairman), Heather Stadick (Treas.), Eddy Barbosa (Sec.), *
Street Roots publishes every two weeks., launching
on Fridays, and is available exclusively through o u r ,
street vendors or by subscription. W e are proud
members of the International Network of Street
Papers. I | 3 J • !: | | | I - | | | i j ! j J i j ( | j 8 -| J | .
Street Roots
211 NW Davis St
Portland, OR 97209
503-228-5657
Fax:503-227-3117
streetroots.org
news.streetroots.org
? israel@$treetroot$.org
-
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhi
joam etstreettoofeorg
Vendor Coordinator Cote Merkel
cole@ $tteetroo&org
Operations Director Sarah Beecroft
Program Assistant Grace Badik, Jesuit Volunteer,
grace@streetroots.org
Development Director Sarah Cloud
Office Assistant Am ber Bielman
Reporters Jake Thomas, Alex Zielinski, Nathan
Gilles, Sue Zalokar, Ann-Derrick Gaillot
Photographers Kristina Wright, Christopher
Onstott
Rich Rodgers, Brad Taylor, Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon, -'
Darren Alexander, Amber Bielman
-
'
Volunteers
' IB! IS 1 - SSSI
Street Roots vendors buy the newspapers for 25 cents
each and sell them for $1, keeping the 75 cents in
profit for themselves. In order to keep the cost low to
our vendors, we receive additional support from ' , ' -
donations and in-kind contributions. - ' ' -
Jan Bayer, Elizabeth Tierney, Rob Shryock, A n n - '
Derrick Gaillot, Stacey Heath, Vinnie Kinsella, Michelle
Breslau, Paula Cracas, John Barker, Mary Locke, Lucas
Manfield, Jessie Carver, Cherie Veda!, Sam Bouman,
John Yohe, Isaac Hastings Hauss, Emily Green, Tom
Ray, Sarah Hansell, Alana Kansaku-Surmiento
Street Bosts Bose City Resource
Street Roots publishes the Rose City Resource, a
comprehensive booklet o f 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.
75=
goes directly to the vendor
who sold you the paper
25=
goes toward
printing costs
Vendor orientations are at 1 p.m. every Monday,
W ednesday and Friday at the Street Roots office'.