Commentary
Housing justice protects people and planet
BY VIVIAN SATTERFIELD
C O N T R IB U T IN G C O L U M N IS T
t OPAL Environmental Justice
Oregon, we spent six years
fighting for and winning
inclusionary housing policies for
Oregon’s cities. As partners in Anti-
Displacement PDX, we won concrete
language in the Portland
comprehensive plan. Together with
the Welcome Home Coalition, we
passed a housing bond last November
to invest in permanently affordable
homes in Portland. Ultimately none
of the recent victories in housing
mobility and choice matter if
landlords are able to kick their
tenants out, or price them out, for no
good reason.
Housing is a basic human right,
and shelter is a necessity. Today, our
current system fails to protect
everyone. A lack of stable, affordable
housing is a problem across the
country. In our city, we know all too
well the fate of those who lack
shelter. We lost four community
members in the first ten days of 2017
during an unseasonably cold and
snowy winter. These were individuals
whose lives had value and who
deserved dignity and a chance at
M
Vivian Satterfield is the deputy
director of OPAL Environmental
Justice Oregon
personal success.
These recent severe weather
events are linked to global climate
change. We have a chance to respond
to climate change and to advance
housing justice. As a part of the
Climate Justice Collaborative, OPAL
and our partners at the Native
American Youth and Family Center
(NAYA) and the Coalition of
Communities of Color believe that
displacement prevention is a key
pillar of climate resilience.
Skyrocketing rents keep our
, communities from living where they
can access a frequent service bus
line. As our families are pushed to
the edges of the city and beyond, a
long bus ride with multiple transfers
becomes impractical and inefficient.
Green spaces, cultural centers, and
educational opportunities get further
from our reach.
We want the tools to stabilize our
communities now, not later. And you
can help us win these tools. We need
you to pick up the phone and tell your
legislators rent stabilization and an
end to no-cause evictions will keep
economically vulnerable people from
being displaced due to the whims of
investors and market players. It will
keep people from being displaced
onto our streets, which will save lives.
Also know that when we keep
everyone stably housed, we are
reducing greenhouse gas emissions
and ensuring that historically
marginalized communities have
housing mobility and choice.
To make the system work for
everyone, we must listen to those
whom it currently fails. People of
color, people with low incomes and
front line communities demand
climate action rooted in economic,
racial, and social justice. That means
renter protections as a key defense
for people and the planet.
We mourn those who have died
because of housing injustice. We can
honor their lives by fighting to change
a system that leaves vulnerable
people out in the cold.
Find out who represents your voice
in Salem: wWw.oregonlegislature.gov/
findyourlegislator/leg-districts.html
Street Roots • March 3-9, 2017
A Precious One
by Maddy Brown-Clark
There were tears in my eyes
When I heard she’d died
So wet and so cold
From rain and snow
Was she hearing voices? ?
Making the wrong choice?
She was caught in freezing wind
Would she ever breathe again?
Did she need a friend?
She lost her home
And she died alone
On the chilly streets
In the rain and sleet
I wonder how she felt
When no one came to help
We have to look out for ones
So this doesn’t happen anymore
For though she had no home
She was a precious one
For those who passed away in the cold
Better dental health
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CareOregon
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