Street Roots • Oct. 27-Nov. 2, 2017
Page 3
O p in io n
New solutions for those living in natural areas
urbing climate change, protecting our natural
natural resource managers came together this past
environment and ending homelessness. In a
week for a daylong training on homelessness and
world gone mad, these challenges sometimes
the environment hosted by the Bonneville
feel so enormous that people don’t have a clue on Environmental Foundation (See “Advocates, park
where to begin.
workers seek solutions to illegal camping,” page 7).
More so, what do we, as a community, do when
The goal was to educate the environmental
for some of people experiencing homelessness, the
community and natural resource managers on the
history and trauma of people experiencing
only options for camping
homelessness, while also thinking about solutions to
are on those very natural
the challenges that we face collectively. It was a
resource areas we are
trying to protect?
great first step.
I have long believed that with a shift in thinking
I’ve written before
and funding, we could actually be utilizing people
about why some people’s
experiencing homelessness to help maintain our
only options for sleeping
By Israel Bayer
natural areas. More so, people on the streets could
outside are parks,
be utilized to help clean up trash around the city on
wetlands and other
a larger scale.
wooded areas around our
With the right kind of investment, we could offer
region. The city is booming. New developments, a
both work and educational programs geared toward
robust economy and a growing population have
giving people a hand up, while also helping solve
created neighborhoods that have less tolerance for
what’s at the heart of making our community so
people experiencing homelessness.
angry. I’ve long said, it’s not homeless people
Just this week, the Portland Mercury reported
themselves that make the general public believe
that some members of the Piedmont neighborhood
they are subhuman - it’s the trash that goes along
are looking to slap a new label on any property
with the ongoing struggle of living outdoors.
owner who helps a homeless camp or shelter to
There’s no reason we couldn’t be thinking about
spring up without a formal O K from nearby
new programs that are not so different from Street
residents as “bad neighbors” - threatening not to
Roots, with individuals working to clean up natural
cooperate with such a neighbor for up to five years.
areas in the region and also learning about the
It’s the latest in a long line of disagreements
benefits of supporting our bird and animal
between people on the streets, advocates,
sanctuaries, wetlands and parks.
government and neighborhoods around the city.
We have both the expertise and the desire to do
Hence, more and more homeless campers are
it. What we need are a shift in thinking around
being forced from downtown and neighborhoods due
economic development strategies and political will.
to g e n trific a tio n an d moving their camps to natural
What we need is cold hard cash.
areas and parks throughout the city and region.
It’s my opinion, that if such a nonprofit was
It’s my belief that the vast majority of Oregonians
created, people would flock to support it. Maybe
care about the homeless and more so, care about
business leaders, government and investors should
the environment and curbing climate change. People
be thinking about ways to create and maintain
simply don’t know how to respond to these
organizations to solve the problems we have right in
enormous challenges outside of giving to nonprofits
front of us, instead of simply investing in companies
and doing their part to recycle and become more
whose sole purpose is to make a profit. In the
conscientious consumers.
meantime, we’re working on building the foundation
What do we do?
for such an effort. Stay tuned.
Poverty and environmental advocates along with
C
DIRECTOR'S
Israel Bayer is the
executive director o f
Street Roots. You can
reach him at
israel @streetroots. org
or follow him on
Twitter @israelbayer.
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 Wolfe, 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
OIDani, 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
L a st winter, Sisters O f The R oad provided people experiencing homelessness with photography
classes a n d disposable cameras so that they could docum ent their lives fo r a project called
“Through O u r L e n s " T his photo depicts the campsite o f a participant, Phoebe 0 ., who was
sleeping in a wooded area o f Southwest Portland. She is also a Street Roots vendor.
with Street Roots, please submit a volunteer
application at streetroots.org/volunteer. Or you can
call for more information at 503-228-5657.