Street Roots «M arch 13-19,2015
Editorial
Homelessness series packed with many lessons
Write in
if you would Ske
nna Griffin has been around the block. After
a challenge to wade through the politics of homelessness
spending 10 years at the Charlotte Observer,
and poverty to be able to tell a story that’s accurate and
Griffin moved west to take a job at The
reflects what is really happening. How did you navigate
Oregonian. Her first day on the job was Mayor Tom that?
Potter’s inauguration. Since that time she’s been a City
Hall beat reporter covering such topics as the Joint
A.G.: I’m always struck on how many different
Terrorism Task Force, public campaign financing and
messages and different views you hear from within the
lobbying disclosures, among other things
elected system, housing agencies and government
Griffin has been Metro columnist offices versus what you see on the ground and what you
and is now an editor and senior
hear from people who work on the ground. I think that
reporter with The Oregonian after
everybody means well, and I think a number of elected
a one-year Nieman Fellowship at
officials in this community have been passionate
Harvard University.
advocates and really want things to change and want to
Currently, Griffin has put
makes things better. We have a system at the
together what will sure to be an
government level where, to get money you have to show
By Israel Bayer
award-winning eight-part series
success. To get elected you have to show success. I
titled, “Our Homeless Crisis.” In
think things are sometimes spun in a way that doesn’t
the series, Griffin tackles a range
necessarily always reflect the reality on the ground. You
of matters related to the issue -
can make statistical progress, but still have thousands of
including looking at life on the streets for individuals
people sleeping outside tonight. Somebody working in a
and families, policy efforts locally and federally and
government office is going to take a long-term
asking whether Portland is a magnet for people
approach. People with boots on the ground, working or
experiencing homelessness. She spent a night on the
living on the streets, they have to think about how to
streets with homeless outreach workers and built
respond to the situation right now.
relationships with people sleeping outside — all while
trying to capture both thè harsh personal and political
I.B.: So often homelessness is covered in a vacuum in
realties of trying to solve homelessness.
the media. Were there things you learned in doing
Griffin still isn’t done, telling me this week that,
something more indepth?
“when I started writing about homelessness it went
from maybe I’ll write three stories on homelessness to
A.G.: I do think we have more people who care about
maybe I’ll write more. I don’t think I’m ever going to be this issue and want to do good and want to help, but I
done writing about it.”
also think, especially within the city of Portland, our
I had a chance to sit down with Griffin this week to
form of government makes sustained progress on any
is s u e re a lly d ifficu lt. P o litica lly , w e ’v e e x p e r ie n c e d a
talk about the project.
massive turnover in leadership at the city and county
something *
that you’ve
written
incur
like to get in voked as a
member of our reporting staff,
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reach him a t
israel@streetroots.org
o r follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
Isr a e l B ayer: So, why do a series on homelessness?
Were there things you wanted to come out of it?
Anna Griffin: I started at The Oregonian covering
City Hall in early 2005, so I covered the beginning of
the 10-year plan. It’s been something I’ve been
interested in as a journalist from the beginning, and you
and I have had many conversations for years in which
I’ve said I should do something bigger on the topic.
Part of what I wanted to do with this project was help
the typical Oregonian reader understand that the
reasons people end up on the streets are much more
complicated than that gut level, “Oh, you’re an addict,
or you screwed up in some way.” ! wanted to give
homeless people who don’t often have a yoice in our
publication a voice to help educate the audience.
I.B.: Were there any stories that stuck with you
specifically when doing the series?
'
A.G.: What frustrated me as a reporter, in almost all
these stories of people who were living unsheltered,
was that invariably it came down to people make |
mistakes or fall under horrible circumstances in their
lives and we don’t have a system that makes it easy or
straightforward for somebody to rebuild their life
quickly and easily. I was struck in a lot of cases by just
how long people were waiting for housing, and how few
options there actually are.
Going places and seeing children is the worst. I have
a story coming out next week on family shelters. The
lack of hope among many parents and just knowing it’s
going to be many months before they get something
permanent - it’s heartbreaking. I don’t know how
anybody who pays attention to homelessness in our
community doesn’t end up heartbroken.
LB.: At Street Roots, we experience so many people
trying to manage the issue of homelessness, from elected
and civic leaders to executive directors and foundations to,
frontline workers and people on the streets. Sometimes, it's
Street
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Staff
Executive Director Israel Bayer
israel@streetroots.org
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl .
Operations Director Sarah Beecroft
Program Assistant Grace Badik, Jesuit
Volunteer, gracG@slreetroolS.org
Development D irector Sar a h G o o d
Development A ssistant An n-Derrick
level. That makes solving homelessness extremely
difficult
The notion that we attract (homeless) people to
Portland, because we are so giving: I just think that’s
the wrong question to be asking. At the end of the day,
I don’t think it matters.
You’re talking about people. If they’re not going to be
homeless here, they’re going to be homeless
somewhere else. Why not serve people to the best of
our ability? It’s the right thing to do. We bill ourselves
as a progressive community that does things differently.
Let’s do that then. Let’s walk the walk.
I.B.: Portland is changing right before our eyes, but
housing costs and population growth seem to be
accelerating those realities. Both homelessness and housing
are at the heart of the challenges we face in Portland.
A.G.: I look back at all the projects that I’ve done at
The Oregonian. Everything really that I’ve done goes
back to the fundamental question of what is Portland
going to be when it grows up?
We have this great city that’s renowned for smart
growth. It’s world renowned for its food, and everybody
thinks of it as a cool, hip and compassionate place
where we do things right. We do things smart. The
question is what do we do next?
Is the Portland that so many of us know and love and
were attracted to actually sustainable? You and I could
sit here today and craft a series on the vanishing middle
class in Portland and what that means.
Homelessness - to a certain degree - is its own
unique issue with a long history in public housing and
mental health care. It’s also hard on people who are
being priced out of the city. I have young reporters who
work for me who can’t afford to buy a home in inner city
neighborhoods anymore. They have to go to the
suburbs or to Vancouver, I have a white-collar job and if
I were to buy a house now, as opposed to 10 years ago,
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t
joanne@streetroots.org
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Galliot
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executive director o f
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IttR E C lW S
DESK
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Israel Bayer is the
503-228-5657Joanne@streetroofe.org.
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