Street Roots • March 3-9, 2017
O p in io n
Support Oregon’s Right to Rest Act
omelessness is hell. Sleep deprivation.
Verbal taunts. Physical violence. Surviving
in the cold and wet. Being displaced by law
enforcement on a routine basis for not having a
safe place to call home. It’s the opposite of the
American Dream.
The Western Regional Advocacy Project
(WRAP), of which Street Roots is a member,
conducted interviews with 560 homeless people
living in Oregon — Portland and Eugene
specifically.
Eighty-eight of the
respondents reported
having been harassed,
D IB E C T O B 'S
cited by a law
DESK
enforcement agency or
arrested for simply
sleeping. Eighty-three
By Israel Bayer
percent had been
harassed, cited or
arrested for sitting or
lying down, while only 35 percent of homeless
people reported knowing a safe and legal place for
them to sleep outside.
The harsh reality is that local communities
don’t have an answer for what to do with
thousands of people experiencing homelessness
throughout our state. The answer has historically
been to create laws that punish people for nothing
more than their existence.
“We are right back to Jim Crow Laws, Sundown
Towns, Ugly Laws and
Anti-Okie Laws - local
H
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him a t ,
israel@streetroots.org
o r follow him on
Twitter @tsraelbayer.
la w s t h a t p r o f e s s to
'uphold the locally
a c c e p te d o b lig a tio n s of
civility,”’ s a i d P a u l
Boden, organizing
director with WRAP.
“These laws have
always been used by
people in power against
those on the outside .
and people
experiencing
homelessness.”
Laws vary from
community to
community throughout
Oregon, but in reality, if
you’re homeless in
many communities in
Oregon, you’re more or
less not welcome.
Some would argue
that Portland is one of
the more liberal
communities in the
state and around the
country when it comes to
enforcing archaic laws against people
experiencing homelessness. Unfortunately, that’s
not the case. While Portland doesn th a n
panhandling or sitting or lying on a sidewalk - it
does conduct hundreds of costly sweeps every
but rather to make appropriate health care
services, meaningful employment, and especially
housing available to people regardless of income,”
says Boden.
Numerous organizations are supporting the
efforts to decriminalize homelessness in Oregon,
including the ACLU of Oregon, Right 2 Survive,
Sisters Of The Road and Street Roots.
Organizations supporting the bill are also
pushing for more access to basic hygiene facilities
(See “Hygiene, a human need,” page 7) for people
experiencing homelessness. The harsh reality is
many people on the streets experience •
discrimination every day. Part of curbing people’s
homelessness and providing people with
opportunities is providing people with a safe place
to access things like showers, public restrooms
and laundry facilities. These kinds of facilities
exist on a small scale in Portland, but not enough
to meet the need. Statewide, it’s a hard knock life.
The reality is modern day homelessness is a
product of bad policy and the lack of resources
both locally and federally. Thousands of people in
Oregon didn’t wake up yesterday and decide to
become homeless. We can’t police our way out of
homelessness and certainly people experiencing
homelessness shouldn’t be punished for not
having a safe place to call home. It’s time for
change.
What can Street Roots readers do?
Email and call the members of the House
Judiciary Committee by Friday, March 10, and
urge them to support HB 2215, the Oregon Right
to R e s t A c t
'- ./■ C o m m it te e C h a ir, Jfeff B a r k e r :
(503) 986-1428, rep.jeffbarker@state.or.us
■ Committee Vice Chair, Jenniffer Williamson:
(503) 986-1436, rep.jenniferwilliamson@
oregonlegislature.gov
■ Mitch Greenlick: (503) 986-1433, rep.
mitchgreenlick@state.or.us
■ Ann Lininger: (503) 986-1438,
rep.annlininger@state.or.us
■ Andy Olson: (503) 986-1415,
rep.andyolson@state.or.us
■ Bill P o st (503) 986-1425, rep.billpost@state.
76 Oregon House Bill 2215, Oregon’s Right to Rest
Act, would end the criminalization of sleeping
while homeless, while working to support the
basic human and civil rights for aU people,
regardless of their housing status. The bill would
ensure that
their right to restful
eiisuiv
uiat all people
r —r - have
-
sleep and equal access to p u b c space4 *
•
“The way to reduce the numbe of pe°Ple
^
¿
«
“
^csp aces,
-
or.us
■ Sherrie Sprenger: (503) 986-1417,
rep.sherriesprenger@state.or.us
■ Chris Gorsek: (503) 986-1449,
rep.chrisgorsek@state.or.us
■ Tawna Sanchez: (503) 986-1443,
.tawnasanchez@oregonlegislature.gov
rep.
I Duane Stark: (503) 986-1404,
rep.duanestark@state.or.us
■ Rich Vial: (503) 986-1426, rep.richvial@
Page 3
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. - *
Street Roots
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Contact Israel Bayer at israel@streetroots.org
Staff
Executive Director Israel Bayer
israei@streetroots.org
Managing Editor Joanne Zuhl
joanne@streetroots.org
. ;
Vendor Program Director C o l& .W k e i
cole@streetroots.org
Operations Director Sarah Beecroff
Development Director Sarah Cloud
P r o g r a m A s s is ta n t Meghann Van Pelt,
Jesuit Volunteer
_
Development Assistant Patricia Romero
Reporters Emily Green, Suzanne Zalokar,
Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Jared Paben,
Amanda Waldroupe, Stephen Quirke
Photographers Diego Diaz, Joe Glode
Editorial Assistant Monica Kwasnik
Canvasser Desmond Hardison
Board of Directors
Chairman Brad Taylor
Vice-Chairman Rachel Langford
Treasurer Heather Stadick
Secretary Dan Jones
Directors Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson.
Sandra Hahn and John Brown
oregonlegislature.gov
What can you say?
I am calling to urge you to vote yes on the
Right To Rest Act. You will be hearing HB 2215:
Oregon Right To Rest Act in the Assembly
Judiciary Committee. This bill provides critical
civil rights protections to all Oregonians to ensure
that every Oregonian is able to meet the biological
need of r e s t The practice of criminalizing poor
and homeless people for engaging in basic life
sustaining activities like eating, sleeping, resting,
lying and sleeping is unjust cruel and entrenches
people in homelessness. HB 2215 will allow
homeless people more time and energy to access
«services search for employment and apply for
hQusin ’that would otherwise be spent responding
harassment, tickets, courts and jail time,
Hease vote yes on HB 22X5,
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