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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 2015)
street Roots • March 27-Apr¡l 2, 2015 taitona Page 3 — Write ta IL ■ I tohave *44W yaäM ■ 503-228-5657. joanne@streetroots.org. author’s name and contact information, !■ ■ !■ “ ' !■■■ : Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 Fax:503-227-3117 " M elissa, a Street Roots Vendor, and her husband sign the lease on a new www.news.streetroots.org Hours:, 7 3 0 æm.-3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 7:30 a.m.-2 p.m., Sat., and 7:30-11 a.m. Sun. P H O T O B Y LEA H N A S H It’s time to turn the urgency into action J UVUV11 executive d irector o f Street Roots. You ca n reach h im a t israel@streetroots. org o r fo llow h im on Tw itter @israelhayer. lililí! . www.streetroots.org apartment, getting them o ff the streets. Israel B a yer is the Street Roots 21 1Ñ W O aM $.S t F | ^h e Home For Everyone board recently submitted homelessness and deliver the resources needed. | recommendations to the City of Portland and The collective thinking is that until we raise the bar J . Multnomah County. and dedicate more local resources, we’re not going to Home For Everyone is a plan to bring the community gain any ground in the fight against poverty. The newly together to oversee an array of complex services to formed Welcome Home Coalition, which Street Roots deliver the best outcomes for helped found, estimates that we will need an additional ending individual and family $50 million annually to actually tackle the problem. That’s no joke. R O W V M f t O O E SB homelessness in our region. “T h e stre n g th of th e H om e for Having a re n ta l and housing market that is leaving poor and middle-classJEfortlanders behind doe s n 't help. Everyone plan is that it addresses DESK both the diversity of populations It’s not just folks on the streets struggling to get out of B y Israel Bayer experiencing homelessness and the homelessness. There are also hundreds of families range of interventions needed to trying to prevent becoming homeless. Did you know that 7,000 Portland school children help them find permanent reported being homeless at one time or another last housing,” says Marc Jolin, director year? That’s unbelievable. It’s also unacceptable. It’s of the Home For Everyone board. “We have a plan and impossible to maintain an education without Stable the leadership it will take to turn that sense of urgency housing. The need has never been greater. into action that generates real and significant positive Saying all of that, it’s not just government or the outcomes for people experiencing homelessness.” The first set of recommendations is to expand shelter taxpayers that carry the burden. It’s also the responsibility of others to engage in real and intentional beds for women and families. It’s the most immediate ways to support these efforts. heed. Currently, around 200 homeless women are on There’s no reason that private developers and waitlists for shelter every night. It’s a crime, especially landlords shouldn’t be at the table. We all have a considering many of the women are dealing with an responsibility. I also have to wonder — where is the Paul array of challenges, including domestic violence and G. Allen Foundation? We love our Trail Blazers. Heck, sexual assault, among other things. Providing safety for we love our Seahawks. I even love reading about Paul women and families on the streets is critical. Allen’s crazy adventures trying to find lost World War II The Home For Everyone board also recommended a battleships. We know you care about the issue of menu of additional options for elected leaders to homelessness. It’s time to engage Portlanders on the consider, including increasing short and long-term rent issue th e way we engage the Blazers night-in and night- assistance, Section 8 vouchers, creating more mobile out. outreach teams and $20 million for affordable housing Then, there are the hospitals. Sure, local hospitals development The recommendations also include give lots of small community grants, but hospitals in the allocating resources toward income opportunities to Portland region are making money hand over fist We help stabilize people experiencing poverty. know that in other communities hospitals have stepped L ast but not least, the group is hoping to leverage up with significant resources to help target vulnerable local dollars to capitalize on the federal government’s people on the streets. Let’s get real. Study after study plan to help homeless veterans get of the streets. show that providing people with housing saves hospitals All of the recommendations come on top of what the an enormous amount of money over time by deterring current system is already allocating. In total, it’s an hundreds of emergency room visits due to the harsh additional investment of about $33 million over two realities of homelessness. Not to mention, it’s the right years — some of which are one-time allocations and thing to do. some will be ongoing. In short, it’s a heavy lift for our At the end of the day, solving the issue of community. homelessness isn’t about more planning. It’s about The optimist in me thinks that it’s a bold plan to help support people experiencing homelessness and poverty. resources and opportunity. No one system can do it alone. Portland, like many other communities, is facing The pessimist in me wonders if we have the political a perfect storm when it comes to tackling the issue of will to deliver such a plan. It’s one thing to develop a poverty and bridging the gap between the rich and the plan with stakeholders. It’s another to lead our , „* „ , . community in prioritizing affordable housing and ,, * . popr^ We ne§ti all handsQn deck-, z' '' '■>’ Z % & & & ' % X-v-" ■ / S$ B ? V B ^ $Z j z”1 z Advertising IB S Interested in advert»« Staff Executive D irector Israel Bayer ¡srad@sfreetFocfe.org Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl joanne@streetroots.org Vendor Coordinator Cole Merkel , coie@streetroots.org Operations Director Sarah Beecroft Program Assistant Grace 8adik, Jesuit Volunteer, grace@streetroots.org Development Director Sarah Cloud Development Assistant Ann-Derrick Galliot Reporters Emily Green, Sue Zalokar, Christen McCurdy, Sarah Hansell, Sam Bouman, Jacques Von Lunen Photographers Diego Diaz, Kristina Wright Canvasser Desmond Hardison Board of Directors Chairman Bruce Anderson Vice-Chairman Brad Taylor Treasurer Heather Stadic-k Secretary Amber Bielman Directors Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson, Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon, Darren Alexander, Eddie Barbosa, Rachel Langford Volunteers Jan Bayer, Rob Shyrock, Stacey Heath, John Barker, Sarah Hansell, Aaron Von Reyn, Chere Cobb, Audrey Cerchara, Jade Maniscalco, Anjali Rathore, Eliese Baker, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Susan Gallagher, Tom Ray, Lee Ko, Dan Jones, Lisa Waldo, James Yu, Sam Bouman, C h erieV edal. If you aré interested in volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or call Volunteer Coordinator Grace Badik for more information at 503-228-5657.
