Street Roots • August 25-31, 2017
Page 3
O p in io n
Inmate labor ‘insanity’ when worthy programs can do more
treet Roots has advocated for years that
the city expand the Clean and Safe
program that gives people that have
formerly experienced homelessness job
opportunities to help clean up the city.
There are many reasons why people
experiencing
homelessness face the
backlash of the general
DIRECTOB
public, none more so than
D IS S
the build up of trash.
It’s my humble opinion
By Israel Bayer
that Portland liberals
don’t so much see
homeless people as
inhumane, but they see
large amounts of trash and homeless people and
they begin to think people are inhumane. Now,
I’m not saying that’s fair, it just is.
By now most Street Roots know the housing
crisis has driven many of our neighbors and
friends to living under bridges, in doorways and
in city parks.
When the general public witnesses people
experience the trauma of poverty it sometimes
isn’t pretty.
The lack of privacy for people experiencing
homelessness means the public is going to see
all of the things we as humans get to experience
in the privacy of our own homes.
Both the city of Portland and Multnomah
county are starting to see the importance of
beginning to invest more in alternative m ethods
of helping clean camps and creating economic
development opportunities to support people on
tire stxGGts*
Partnerships have been created with Central
City Concern’s Clean Start PDX program. The
program is composed of three, two-person crews
that collect trash at homeless camps around the
city outside of downtown. (Read our July 28
story on the issue, “People on, off streets work
together on universal problem: garbage, at
news.streetroots.org.)
Currently, Clean and Safe has 32 formerly
homeless individuals working downtown to clean
S
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach h im a t
israel@streetroots. org
or follow h im on
Tw itter @israelbayer.
the streets on a daily basis.
Expanding the program is a win-win for our
community. It’s giving more people the
opportunity to gain an income to support their
quality of life after getting into housing and it
helps keep homeless camps clean around the
city.
If government agencies want to invest in
something that works they should be investing
more in programs like Clean Start PDX
program.
Unfortunately, many local governments
agencies continue to use Multnomah County jail
work crews to clean up homeless camps.
A recent article in The Guardian by
Willamette Week columnist Thacher Schmid
highlights that county inmates clearing
homeless camps and picking up trash receive $1
a day for their services.
That’s prison labor. Some might even call it
slavery. Some call it rehabilitation. I call it utter
insanity.
Sure, I get that some inmates probably love
being on a work crew that allows them to get
outdoors. And in some strange universe one
might be able to argue that it’s rehabilitation.
It doesn’t change the fact that these inmates
are cleaning up the camps of people that are
being criminalized for sleeping outdoors. Again,
it’s insanity. It’s wrong. It’s backwards. It’s
outdated. It’s unacceptable.
In short, using inmate labor to clean up
homeless camps should be stopped immediately.
An organization such as Central City Concern,
and other nonprofits th a t have th e capacity to
h e lp c r e a t e jo b o p p o r t u n i t i e s f o r s tr u g g lin g
P o r t l a n d e r s , s h o u ld b e o u r h i g h e s t p r io r ity .
I’ve asked th e county for th e budget of the
work crew program — wondering how much
money they get from other agencies to do these
camp clean ups versus how much money it takes
to run the program. I mean, if you re paying
inmates $1 a day. It can’t cost that much money.
If I were a betting man, I’d wager all that I
had on the nonprofit community being able to
take those investments and create more
opportunities for people on the streets, while
also helping clean up both camps and the city.
Let’s find a way to solve some of Portland s
most pressing needs on the streets and give
people a hand up. It’s not only the right thing to
do, it’s the smart thing to do.
If available.'
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Street Roots
211 NW Davis S t
P ortland, O R 9 7 209
'
503-228-5657
Fax: 503-227-3117
www.streeiroots.org
www.news.streetroots.org
Hours: 7:30 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon.-Fri., 7:30
a.m.-2 p.m. Sat. and 7:30-1 p.m. Sun.
Advertising
Interested in advertising in Street Roots?
Contact Israel Bayer at israeifstreetroots.org
Staff
Executive Director Israel Bayer
israei@ streetroots.org
Executive E d ito r Joanne Zuht
joanne@streetroots.org
V e n d o r P r o g r a m D ir e c to r Cole Merkel
cofe@streetroots.org
Operations Director Sarah B e e c ro ft
Development Director Sarah C lo u d
Program Assistant Caehn M iltk o , Jesuit
V o fu n te e r
Development Assistant Rosemary Wilson
Editorial Assistant Monica Kwasnik
Reporters Emily Green, Sarah Hansell,
Leonora Ko, Jared Paben, Amanda
Waldroupe, Stephen Quirke, Elizabeth
Buelow, Helen Hili
_
photographers Diego Diaz, Joe Glode,
ArkadyBrown
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, John Brown, Nels Johnson and
Alison Hallett
Volunteers
Jan Bayer, John Barker, Stacey Heath, Anjali Rathore,
Zoe Klingmann, Dan Jones, Dennis Hogan, Monica
McKune, Susan W olfe, Lucas Hawthorne, Thomas
Buell Jr., Jeanie Lunsford, Jason Cohen, Doug
Spangle, Susannah Kamala, Jon Raymond, Diana
Richardson, Paul and Madeline Gefroh, Mary Anne
Joyce, Del Shawn Davidson, Gillian Floren, Mark
OlDani, Bianca Butler, Alex Cherin, Jenny Farres, Evan
Firsick, Camber Hansen-Karr, Miranda Woods, Henry
Brannan, Megan Smith, Luke Scheuermann, Annie
Aube, Helen Hill, Mark Brown, Lily Krai, Mary
Emerson, Adam Bruns, Brooke Anderson and Megan
Pickerel-Winer. If you're interested in volunteering
The Clean Start
PDX crew with
Central City
Concern
w ith Street Roots, please submit a volunteer
application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can
call for more information at 503-228-5657.
rRAL CITY CONCERN