Street Roots • Feb. 12-18, 2016
Page 3
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ifavailabfe.
Street Roots
PH O T O BY ISRAEL BAYER
We're inviting ourselves inside your home
student asked me this week why some of
the homeless camps are so hard to keep
clean.
I ask the student to imagine: The entire
World stepped insideyour home at this very •
moment. Not just anyone, but everyone. The
evening news, elected officials, neighbors and
■
friends. Strangers took photos of you and all j
•... your belongings, especially your m ess. I hope
you’re presentable. They ask you questions
about how you’re living and if you chose th e life
you live.
Some guy in a uniform asks to go through all
your stuff. Is your bathroom dean, the kitchen,
your bedroom? What’s in your bathroom
cabinets? Do you have a prescription for those?
We’re going to need to see
that now. I hope you took
™ ™ ™ IB— ■
■
tj.ash out already. I
D IR E C T O R 'S
WPCW
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him at
israel@streetroots.org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
really hope you aren’t
sneakihg a toke of
marijuana. God help you if
B y Israel B a yer
you have any extra bike
|— —
parts lying around your
; home or garage.
All of this, of course, will
be aired tonight on the evening news. It will be
written about in tomorrow’s paper. Experts and
strangers will weigh in and comment on your
behavior and your lifestyle. Are you deserving
of your home or not so much?
Now imagine doing all of that each and every
day with only a tent, if you’re lucky and a hand
full of belongings. You will have no access to
running water or a working toilet No
electricity. No trash pick up. No access to a safe
place to call home. Nothing, Most likely it will
be hard to sleep, You’ll be w et and anyone at
any bmp could come unannounced and wake
you up. Best-case scenario, strangers want to
help you. Worst case, they are there to harm
you.
You are a refugee in a modern land. Cast out
for the world to see. How would the world feel
about you and they way you’re living?
My point is, it sucks to be homeless. Some
peoplethink that it’s easy in Portland. They are
wrong.
I recently had the chance to volunteer with
Free Hot Soup, a group of localPortlanders
who volunteer each week doing jhobilé
outreach to homeless camps throughout
Portland. It was inspiring to know that so many
unsung heroes go out every night to make sure
p e o p le a re s a fe . B u t i t w a sn ’t a w a lk in t h e '
park. It’s hard times in the city. The resilience
of people, given their circumstances, is always
eye opening. It’s a sad affàir. Human suffering .
is tibf a pretty thing.
That’s why I was glad to see Mayor Charlie
Hales take action this week. A new set of
camping guidelines were released that outline a
new approach to allowing tent camping on
public property and the ability to organize
larger homeless camps, including trying to find
places for people sleeping in their cars and
RVs. The proposal isn’t perfect, but it’s
something. Haters are going to hate. It’s a pilot
program that was created through a lens of
compassion and praticality. Win it work? I’m
cautiously optimistic, understanding that
nothing is perfect and not doing anything isn’t
an option.
It’s important to remind ourselves that thé
currenthousing crisis didn’t arrive yesterday.
The latest homeless emergency is just the
latest response to a crisis that’s been going on
for far too long. We need to work toward
solutions that will create safety for people and
alleviate the suffering for our most vulnerable
neighbors.
The reality is homeless camps, tent cities,
tiny homes and shelters aren’t the answer to
homelessness. Housing - and housing alone -
is the only solution to homelessness. It’s why
things like inclusionary zoning, eviction
prevention and more resources to.build
affordable housing are critical. It’s not getting
any better out there, friends, and in fact, it’s
probably going to get worse for a whole lot of
people. Without that support, it will continue to
be a hard knock life for thousands of our
friends, family and neighbors.
211 NW Davis St.
Portland, OR 97209
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.
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Interested :r. advertising in Street Roots?
Contact Israel Bayer at israel@streetroots,org
Staff
Israel Bayer
. israel@streetroot5.org
M anaging Editor Joanne Zuhl
E x e c u tiv e D ir e c t o r
joanne@stieetroots.orq 4
Mendor Coordinator
cefeOsfereetr6ots.org
19
Operations Director Sarah Seecroft
Development Director Sarah Cfoud
Program Assistant Scott Jadson, Jesuit
Volunteer
Development A s sis ta n t /Vtn-Derrfck
Gaillot
R ep o rte rs Emily Green, Sue Zalokar,
Ann-Derrick Gaillot, Sarah Hansell, Leonora
Ko, Jared Paben, Am anda W aldroupe
P hotographers D iego Diaz, Joe Glode,
Ben Brink
Editorial A ssista n t Monica Kwasnik
C an v asser Desmond Hardison
Board of Directors
C hairm an Bruce Anderson
Vice-Chairm an Brad Taylor
T re a su re r Heather Stadick
S e cre ta ry Amber Bielman
D irecto rs Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson,
Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon, Darren Alexander,
Eddie Barbosa, Rachel Langford, Marcus Swift
Volunteers
Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Brian
Ritchie, Anders Frederickson, Stephanie
Holum, Anjal Rathore, Sam Bouman, Joanna
Chase, Zoe Klingmann, Haven Herrin, Eliese
Baker, Dan Jones, Rob Shyrock, Tom Ray,
Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jessica
Pollard, Lee Ko, Diana Richardson, Cherie
Manning, Thomas Buell Jr.
If you are interested in volunteering with
Street Roots, please submit a volunteer
application atstreetroots.org/volunteer. Or
gall bur volunteer coordinator for more
information at 503-228-5657,