Street roots., January 02, 2015, Page 9, Image 9

Street Roots • January 2-8, 2015
New s
Page 9
SHELTER, from page 8
have no other option than to keep a weapon
for protection. Kate kept a knife, and now
keeps a taser. Another anonymous woman
currently taking shelter at SAFES kept
multiple knives and pepper spray when she
was sleeping on the streets.
In the city’s survey, almost half of
homeless women reported being affected in
some way by domestic violence. In addition
to the emotional toll, dt leaves women
actively fleeing domestic violence situations
vulnerable to their abusers.
“A lot of these women have abusers and
not good histories going on, and sometimes
those histories kind of show up in the
neighborhood,” SAFES Program Manager
Anna Cale said. “Community safety is
something that we really try to talk to the
women about and support them with.”
These histories are one of the reasons
SAFES is staffed almost exclusively by
women.
“I think it’s important for them to have
women help them to show them that they
can achieve and they can overcome as well,”
Basilio said. “Women can be independent,
successful and self-sufficient in our
community.”
Basilio and the team at SAFES is actively
celebrating that image, raising the profile of
not only the shelter services, but the lives
and potential in the women themselves. In a
shift from the hushed environment of years
past, today, YouTube videos and social media
postscelebrate the poetry and humanity of
the women under their roof.
Still, sometimes simply the label of
“hofttbiess^'Sre^atbs11 barriers for women. *
When Sandra, who slept at SAFES for two
months, sought emergency shelter there
and didn’t have access to a locker, she had.
nowhere to store her . things.
“I had to sleep with my belongings tied to
me,” Sandra, said. “There’s a lot of theft. You
can’t leave your suitcase there and expect it
to be there 12 hours later. How are you
supposed to go to a job interview carrying a
backpack and suitcases? ‘Hi, I’m homeless.’”
The stigma associated with homelessness
disadvantages these women in myriad ways
STREET ROOTS PHOTO.
SAFES Executive Director Bernadette Basilio stands in one o f the new permanent supportive
housing rooms at the Salvation Army Female Emergency Shelter. The 42 new rooms are
expected to open later this month.
- from difficulty getting a job to loss of self­
esteem. Crystal says she has seen the
stigma against homelessness growing since
she first experienced it and largely.blames
the way homelessness is depicted in the
media.
“People that aren’t on the street treat Us
like we have a disease or something,” said a
woman who currently uses SAFES’s
Many of the people on the streets have
what is labeled a disabling condition —
according to the 2013 Point-in-Time Count,
more than half. This could mean anything
from a physical disability to a mental health
problem to substance abuse. These
conditions make finding shelter that much
more difficult.
For Kate, who uses a wheelchair, the
services.
Sandra — who said she never thought
increased difficulty is physical.. W o m en w h o
' possess a disabling condition are
she’d be homeless “in a million years,” is
now grateful for the experience because she
can understand it and wants to do
something to change it. She believes the
misconceptions the general public maintain
about homelessness are rampant and deeply
damaging to the homeless population.
“I didn’t meet anyone who was homeless
by choice,” she said. “And as far as being
lazy goes, oh my gosh. See how much work
it is trying to survive carrying all of your
belongings on your back?”
exponentially more vulnerable.
“Alone, female, in a wheelchair — it kind
of doubles the risk,” Kate said.
Another woman using SAFES’s services
has HIV/AIDS. A shelter holding 50 women
as the regular dormitory at SAFES does
- who could have anything ranging from a
cold to a more serious illness, is clearly not
a safe place for her.
And SAFES’s goal is to include as many
women in its efforts as possible and protect
the women who are especially vulnerable,
r
I
CENTRAL CITY
Transition
Projects
OO One
believes
should have to be
homeless.
Transition^
Ending homelessness and achieving self-sufficiency:
Now roasting & distributing craft coffee.
Available for purchase at:
Chuck's Produce
Food Front Cooperative Grocery
Green Zebra Grocery
New Seasons Market
Whole Foods Market
Soon crvailalbe for on-line purchase! '
For office coffee service, call our friends at
■Percosso Coffee. 503-46Qr3861
Projects 1
650 NW Irving St
Portland, OR 97209
S03.280.4700
www.tprojects.org
W CO FFEE
'
www.centralcityconcern.org
facebook.com/CentrcdCityGoffee
including those with addictions. So SAFES
is a wet and low-barrier shelter, meaning
that women will not be denied services if
they are under the influences of substances
and that the only qualification required to
access SAFES’s services is being an adult
female.
“Women are already vulnerable on the
streets, and if they’re obviously under the
influence of something they’re not going to
make the right judgment, so we definitely
want to invite them in so they have a safe
shelter,” Basilio said.
Since Basilio took the helm of SAFES in
April, she’s« instituted a slew of new
programs, including Arts and Crafts, a
Narcotics Anonymous group, a Depression
and Anxiety group, Rent Well classes,
Sewing class and Community Clean Up.
And SAFES’s new building has a wealth
of untapped potential — many rooms
reaching up to the fourth floor and down to
the basement are unused, or used only for
storage. Basilio hopes that the new single­
room occupancies are just the start, .and
that with more funds and some much-
needed renovations, SAFES will tie able to
greatly expand its services. Basilio hopes, in
the future, to have an indoor garden, a
computer room, job and financial training,
and more respite care.
Sandra hopes that some of this space will
be used to expand the emergency shelter to
a year-round option. SAFES’s emergency
shelter was the only thing between her and
the streets the day she was thrown out of
her nephew’s home with no warning, and
s h e k n o w s m u lt ip le o t h e r w o m e n w h o f a c e d
similar situations.
SAFES’s 50-bed dormitory currently has
a waiting list of 200-- four times its
capacity.
“I’m obsessed with this, I really am,”
Sandra said. “Because I will never forget the
looks on the faces of the people who were
getting kicked out. They didn’t know where
to go.”
You can view more about the SA FE S
program at www.youtube.com/
watch?v=nzt4Xt0eIvk
W H IT E , T S B B i , & TBÜE.
- SHAWN liY Y , THE OREGONIW
AMD IN EMOTBNIl B W M Z B .’’
JOHN CHANDLEH, RUTLAND MONTHLY