S treet R oots •
August 5-11, 2016
E d it o r ia l
Homelessness isn’t a media event. It’s real life.
he ie mayor recently declared an end to
hi “Safe Sleep” policy in our city. The
his
policy
allowed for people experiencing
pc
homelessness to sleep in tents, during
nighttime hours, undisturbed.
Unfortunately, that’s assuming that nearly
2,000 individuals and families had a safe
place to sleep to begin
with. Living under a-. •.
freeway underpass, in a
doorway, in our public
parks or in a mass
shelter is no way to live
By Israel Bayer
— especially when the
majority of those fellow
humans are our elders,
children, the sick and
disabled.
The reality is that without adequate
housing for thousands of Portlanders', .
nothing is going to change. In fact, I’d argue
that the noise and media scrutiny is jtist
going to get louder and louder.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:
People on the streets and in homeless camps
have become tabloid news on social media
and in the larger media landscape.
In February, I wrote about what it’s like to
be homeless in today’s climate. Nothing has
changed.
“Imagine for a moment that the entire
world stepped inside your home at this very
m om ent Not just anyone, but everyone —
the evening news, elected officials, angry,
a
DIRECTOR'S
DESK
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f |
Street Roots. You can
redch h im a t
israel@streetroots.org
d r follow h im on
Twitter @tsmelbajter.
n e ig h b o r s and frien d s. S tra n g ers to o k p h o to s
of you-and all your belongings, especially- !
your mess. I hope you’re presentable. They
ask you questions about how you’re living and
if you chose the life you live:
Some guy in a uniform asks to go through
all your stuff. A reporter asks you questions
about housing policies and why you choose to
live this way.
Is your bathroom clean? The kitchen?
What’s in 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 the trash
out already. What a mess.
All of this, of course, will be aired tonight
off 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. Do you really deserve the
life you’re living?
Now imagine doing all of that each and
every day with only a tent, if you’re lucky and
a handful 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. Anyone at any
time could come unannounced and wake you
up. Take pictures of you. Best-case scenario,
strangers want to help you. Worst case, they
are there to harm you.
You are a refugee in a modem land. Cast
out for the world to see. How would the
world feel about you and the way you’re
living?”
My point is, it sucks to be homeless. Some
people think that it’s easy in Portland. They
are wrong.
.
Nobody is choosing to be homeless
because they don’t want to go into a shelter.
Seriously, would you? Living in a shelter
stinks - literally. It’s uncomfortable. It’s loud.
It’s overwhelming to someone with a trauma
or living with a mental illness. Want to be
able to sleep with the one you love? Too bad.
Need some time alone to think? Sorry. Want
to not be treated like you’re a child or you’re
in a jail? Good luck.
If I were currently homeless I would
choose living outdoors over living in shelter.
Hands down. That doesn’t mean I would be
choosing to be homeless.
Of .course, shelter^ are needed for our ,
most vulnerable and others who want to
access shelter. But to think that an individual
is choosing to be homeless is ridiculous.
Homelessness exists.due to the lack o ft."'
housing in our community, rising rents and
the lack of federal resources. Two thousand
people didn’t decide to be homeless just to
create a media spectacle or to piss off the
larger community. People sleeping on the
streets are human beings. They are our
fellow human beings struggling to maintain in
a world gone mad, a world without a, safe
place to call home. It’s as simple as th a t
P ag e 3
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