Street roots., November 27, 2015, Page 4, Image 4

News
Page 4
Street Roots • Nov. 27-Dec. 3, 2015
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BY ISRAEL BAYER
STAFF WRITER
treet Roots recently sat down with
Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and
talked about the issues of
homelessness and climate change. Hales
will be joining mayors from Eugene, Seattle,
Los Angeles and San Francisco in a summit
on the subjects on Dec. 11 and 12 in
Portland.
S
Israel Bayer: Thinking about defining
moments in Portland's history, such as our
urban growth boundary or stopping the Mount
Hood freeway, how do you think Portland
should come together to have that same
moment and turn the tide on displacement
and affordability with a new kind of Portland
moment that creates lasting change?
Charlie Hales: I believe having the
council declare a state of emergency and
then follow up swiftly with very real things
is an important moment, if not a defining
one.
In 44 days, we’ve created the first-ever
rent protections in the history of Portland,
enacted $67 million dollars to go toward
affordable housing, and made all the
preparations for a new women’s shelter. For
government to get that much done in a time
period measured in days instead of months
or years, is something we’re proud to be
doing. I’m proud of the community for
coming together and demanding action and
the leadership we’ve had on the council.
LB.: You’re holding a mayors’ summit in
December with other West Coast mayors —
concentrating on both climate change and
housing. What do you hope comes out of the
summit?
C.H.: It will be our goal to learn from one
another. I go to these U.S. Conference of
Mayors conferences and it’s what we do.
Most mayors are pragmatic and generous
with their ideas. There’s no one hiding
behind any kind of political agenda and we
get into the weeds about what we can do to
make our cities better.
(Seattle Mayor) Ed Murray and I were
together at the Vatican talking about
housing and homelessness and that’s what
led to this gathering.
I.B.: Did the pope talk to the mayors about
your responsibilities around poverty?
C.H.: Qh yes, very much so. We were
there to talk about climate change and the
pope talked to us very in-depth about how
climate change is not just about the
environment, it’s about people. The pope’s
encyclical is billed as being specifically
about the environment and climate change,
but he told us this is as much of a social
issue about people as it is about the
environment Obviously, they are very much
connected.
The pope talked to us about displacement
of people due to climate change and the
erosion of culture. He talked about how
climate change is disrupting culture and the
disrupting of culture creates displacement
and refugees which leads to trafficking and
survival, which leads to people dying trying
to cross an ocean or a border to simply
better their families’ lives. It was a very
powerful experience for me. Climate change
and poverty are interconnected. The Vatican
is noticing that most forward motion and
innovation is happening on a city level and
he challenged mayors to do more. It was
powerful.
LB.: Declaring a state
of emergency on housing
sends a very clear signal
to Salem and
Washington, D.C., that
this is a crisis that can’t
be ignored. Do you plan
on asking for additional
state and federal support
this year to support the
housing emergency?
We are in g raw danger oí
becoming San Francisco and
we bave to use every single .
tool we have and some more
tbat we don't to change tbe
libel j outcome tbat only tbe
rieh liw in this city and the
poor and working class live in
sw surrounding suburbs.
C.H.: One of the
reasons we created a
state of emergency on
homelessness was
inspired by the federal government’s efforts
on ending veterans’ homelessness — by
witnessing how we’ve been able to house so
many homeless veterans in a red-hot
housing market. The reality is, when you
have the right partners, and we can scale up
our support for housing, we can be
successful in getting people inside. Being a
part of efforts to end veterans’
homelessness has been a teachable moment
for me, because it shows with the right
HALES, from page 5