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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (July 29, 2016)
Street Roots • July 29-August 4, 2016 Page 3 Editorial A complex problem calls for multi-dimensional solutions Write In ■you would like cold, hunger, isolation and vulnerability. ime and again, despite the rhetoric, we are reminded that homelessness is not a one The solution, like the problem, is multi-dimensional, dimensional issue. It is the byproduct of the and has to span both long-term economic and social unlimited combinations of economic, social and sustainability with the immediacy of sundown. To say environmental forces. Its roots extend far into our people don’t want help is to not understand the educational institutions, our health care structure, our complexity of what helping really means. And to equate criminal justice system and the help with a shelter mat is missing the bigger picture incarceration industry. And that’s entirely. even before you stir in the housing In the past year we have seen a lot of ideas laid out crisis, wildly on the table, none of them without outrageous rents controversy: Sanctioned camping by the city; and the loss of middle-income jobs. Our approaches a proposal to create a massive consolidated Homelessness is a complex and shelter space; a construction excise tax and a can't be sophisticated issue, just like the human ballot measure to bond for low-income all-or-nothing beings living through it: We would say housing construction. We’ve also seen rules survive, but not all of them do. All of propositions if we around rent increases and eviction notices, these forces push people downward and want to succeed. because the problem doesn’t begin on the keep them there. No single plan is streets. It begins in the apartments across The Springwater Corridor is the latest this city where families are becoming going to have flashpoint in this decades-long struggle financially drained. universal support, around modern homelessness. It is And we also have to find a way for people drawing fire from all directions - toward- or come without on the streets to exist safely and peacefully, the people who are homeless and their its critics. That's because mass shelters and mats on the floor supporters - and back again. a good thing. are not good for everyone for myriad reasons Sensationalized figures aside, there - mental illness, domestic violence, PTSD to Discussion and are undoubtedly hundreds of people out name a few- debate — not there, and like any fledgling society, it Street Roots is excited by the ultimatums — are features the good, the bad and the ugly. opportunities ahead, but we’re also cautious It also features perseverance, ingenuity the cornerstones of the fallout that sometimes follows. If a and compassion. of progress. group’s big idea is questioned or challenged In recent weeks, the housed and by advocates and the homeless, the rejection homeless alike have been coming becomes another reason to blame those they together, organizing around civility, profess to want to help. We’ve heard it time safety and sustainability for people on and time again: What’s that you say? Amat the,corridor. Some of it is activism, but oh the floor in a room with 100 other homeless people most of it is people trying to do the humane thing for is not for you? Why do we waste our time if you choose people who have nothing. Because cursing at the to be homeless? And so it goes, in many shapes and problem - no matter how cathartic - doesn’t move the forms. ball forward. That kind of misguided attitude only pushes people How often do we hear the response - after an further into their corners when we really need to be out individual or group of people experiencing pushing the envelop. The problem doesn’t look like it homelessness make do - “That isn’t a solution.” did 30 years ago, and neither can the solution. Dignity Village, Right 2 Dream Too, church lot Our approaches can’t be all-or-nothing propositions if camping, small camps, emergency shelter, etc.: That we want to succeed. No single plan is going to have isn’t a solution, people said. universal support, or come without its critics. That's a That depends on what you’re calling the problem. good thing. Discussion and debate - not ultimatums - Yes, it’s the lack of affordable housing, jobs, health and are the cornerstones of progress. support. But if you’re homeless, it also includes the B EDITORIAL to have something that you’ve £; written published m our pages, or woufo like to get involved as a x member ot our reporting staff j contact Managing Edirar Joanne Zuhl at 503^28*5657, joanne^streetroots.org. We ask that all submissions include toe authors name and contact information. ■available. Street Roots »1 NW Davis St. Portland, OR 97209 503-228-5657 ■ Fax: 503-227-3117 www.streetroots.org www.news.streetraots.org Hours: 7’30 a m -3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 7:30 ■m.-2 p.m Sat. and 7.30-11 a.m. Sun. Advertising interested in advertising in Street Roots? |||w Bayer at israefetreetroots.org Executive Director Israel Bayer israel@5ireetroots.oro Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl panne@streettocto.org < Vendor Program Oirector Cote Merkel ■ colefetreetroots.org Operations Director Sarah Beecroft Development Director Sarah Cloud Program Assistant Scott Jackson, Jesuit Mblunteer Development Assistant Patricia Romero ' Reporters Emily Green, Suzanne Zalokar, Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Jared Paben, Amanda Waldroupe, Stephen Quirke Photographers Diego Diaz, Joe Glode, Ben Brink Editorial Assistant Monica Kwasnik Canvasser Desmond Hardison Board of Directors Chairman Brad Taylor Vice-Chairman Rachel Langford Treasurer Heather Stadick Secretary Amber Bielman Directors Bruce Anderson, Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson, Leo Rhodes, Nora Coon, Marcus Swift Volunteers Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Stephanie Holum, Anjali Rathore, Zoe Klingmann, Haven Herrin, Dan Jones, Rob Shyrock, Dennis Hogan, Tom Wright, Eileen Deerdock, Vince Waldman, Judy Taylor, Karen Alien, Monica McKune, Susan Wolfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas Buell Jr., Jeanie Lunsford, Yasmin Amirsoleymani, Jason Cohen, Tom Ray, Doug Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon Raymond, Hilary Smith, Diana Richardson, Cherie Manning If you are interested in volunteering with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application, at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or call our volunteer coordinator for more information at 503-228-5657.
