Street Roots • May 5-11,2017
O p in io n
Page
The energy exists to fuel something powerful
e’ve lost the general public’s
Homelessness is going to be a part of our
support and political will on
community until we have the necessary
homelessness.
resources to solve it. That doesn’t mean we
I’ve been hearing these sentiments a lot
as a community or government can give up.
lately in political circles.
In fact, it’s the opposite.
That’s nonsense.
That’s why I believe the city and county
It’s true that many people are upset
will both get to a place of funding our
about homelessness
homeless efforts equally. The budget
in our community. It
process is just that - a process. There will
is also true that many be weeks of discussions and consideration
people are upset
of our needs, our priorities and our
about a whole range
responsibility. Now is not the time to get
of problems facing
into a fight over semantics.
our city, region and
Saying that, I hear a lot of talk of
the world. That
homeless sweeps and how the community
.
doesn’t mean we’ve
believes that in order to get ahead of the
lost people’s will to support folks having a
problem we have to clean the city up. I’m
safe place to call home.
not sure what that means. When you have
I hear politicos say that they receive
thousands of people displaced, moving
more complaints about street homelessness
them from one park to another or one
in our community than any other subject.
freeway underpass to another or one part of
Fair enough. But if Street Roots and other
the city to another is simply a fool’s game.
organizations wanted to organize campaigns
The reality is that Portland does care
to flood City Hall with
about people experiencing
phone calls and emails, we
homelessness. Tens of
could.
thousands of people donate to
To accept such a narrow
nonprofits and foundations
narrative as truth is
every year to help the
Homelessness Is
unsophisticated. It doesn’t
homeless. Teams of
paint the entire picture.
going to be a part of volunteers,
churches,
While we respect our
our community until businesses, politicians and
partners in the business
we have the
neighbors work tirelessly to
community and many
necessary resources give people both shelter and
neighbors that are
empathy in the storm.
to solve It. That
frustrated and organized
T h e question before us now
doesn't mean we as
around the issue — most
is not how we are going to
poverty advocates are
a community or
clean up our city. Our city is
choosing to take the high
government can
beautiful and thriving. The
road.
give up.
question is how are we going
Nobody wants to fight
to take the energy
over the idea of prioritizing
surrounding homelessness
housing and people
and move our city into the
experiencing homelessness.
direction of doing something
It’s something that we all
about it.
agree upon.
How about a one cent coffee tax for every
Instead we are focused on solutions and
cup of coffee sold in the city to go towards
doing the work.
rent assistance? With the right people
Each week, Street Roots vendors sell
around the table we could make something
about 10,000 copies of the newspaper to
like this happen.
the general public. I would argue that the
If the hotels and motels and the tourist
vast majority of our readers don’t believe
industry want homelessness out of
homeless people should be swept out of the
downtown — they should bring it. There’s
public eye without any alternatives in place.
money on the table. We’re listening.
The cold hard reality is if government
That’s just two examples of the efforts
and the public can’t provide housing for
we could be working on.
people, then moving people around and
Right now we’ve a patchwork of Band-
sweeping camps is nothing more than cruel.
Aids created by what little resources we do
I’ve written a lot about the compassion
have and the good will of the people of
fatigue on the streets - the idea that no
Portland.
matter what we do to scale up to solve the
In order to take the next steps and make
problem of homelessness, there are still
the big lift we will need vision. We will need
homeless people. People begin to think that
action. We will need sophisticated thinkers
the problem can’t be solved.
and doers and strategists working at a level
Here’s the thing: Every mayor since the
Portland has never seen before.
early 1980s has been faced with the
I believe we can get there with the
overwhelming task of balancing how to
leadership we have in place. I don’t believe
support thousands of people experiencing
we will get there by bickering over camp
homelessness in their community, political
sweeps or succumbing to the distraction of
will and public safety for all.
squeaky wheels.
The reality is, given the Oregon
Let’s take that energy and turn it into
Legislature’s measly investments on
something powerful. Something that gives
housing and upcoming federal cuts, it’s
thousands of people a safe place to call
probably going to get worse before it gets
home. Something we can all get behind.
better. There is nowhere to run.
W
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him at
israel@streetroots. org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
if available.
Street Roots
211 NW t a k a
503-228-5657
Fax:503-227-3117
www.streetroots.orq
Hours: 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
-Fri., 7:30
a.m.~2 p.m. Sat. and 7:30-1 pm . Sun.
Interested in advertising in Street Roots?
Contact Israel Bayer at israel@streetroots.org
Staff
Israel Bayer
■ ''
israel@streetroots.org
M anaging Editor Joanne Zuhi
joanne@streetroots.org
Vendor P rog ram D ire c to r Cole Merkel
cole@stfeetroots.org
Operations D ire c to r Sarah Beecroft
Developm ent D ire c to r Sarah Cloud
P rogram A ssistant Meghann Van Pelt,
Jesuit Volunteer
Patricia Romero
Emily Green, Suzanne Zalokar,
Sarah Hansell, Leonora Ko, Jared Paben,
R eporters
Arkady Brown
Board of Directors
Chairm an
Brad Taylor
T re a s u re r
Heather Stadick
Dan Jones
D irectors Rich Rodgers, Michael Anderson,
Sandra Hahn, John Brown, Nels Johnson and
Alison Hallett
S e cretary
Volunteers
Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore,
Zoe Klingmann, Dan Jones, Dennis Hogan, Monica
McKune, Susan Wolfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas
Buell Jr., Jeanie Lunsford, Yasmin Amirsoleymani,
Jason Cohen, Tom Ray, Doug Spangle, Susannah
Kamala, Jon Raymond, Diana Richardson, Cherie
Manning, Paul and Madeline Gefroh, Mary Anne
Joyce, Del Shawn Davidson, Gillian Floren, Mark
OIDani, Bridget Brown, Cody Travels, Bianca Butler,
Robb Hengerer, Alex Cherin, Jenny Farres, Evan
Firsick, Camber Hansen-Karr, Miranda Woods, Henry
Brannan, Megan Smith, Luke Scheuermann and
Helen Hill. If you're interested in volunteering with
Street Roots, please submit a volunteer application at
streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can call for more
information at 503-228-5657.