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Street Roots • Dee, 29, 2017-Jan. 4, 2018
Rural Housing
Street Roots • Dec. 29, 2017-Jan. 4, 2018
Rural Housing
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Housing Rural Oregon
HOMELESSNESS
up close and personal
BY ARKADY BROWN I staff
w r it e r
ne woman, one 10-year-old boy, two cats, two dogs, all
living in a van in a Walmart parking lo t
H
This is what home looks like for Sara, Moore and her
son, Josh.*
Homelessness is widespread across Oregon. We all see it,
but what many people don’t understand is the daily struggle ;
and juggle of surviving.
Sara’s story started in Portland when she and her son were
evicted from their apartment in July. After chasing one lead to
another, they found themselves in Coos Bay and decided to
stay.
Sara wants people to understand something about
homelessness: “It’s way harder than people assume to get out
of it once you’re in it.”
For most homeless individuals, the priority is finding
shelter, a job and food. In most rural places, these resources
are incredibly limited and underfunded. This is how it affects
people experiencing homelessness on a personal level.
Shelter
In Coos Bay, Sara said there is only one ? .
shelter Sara could qualify for, the South CoaSt
Gospel Mission, but it doesn’t allow animals.
The wait list for low-income
housing is just as long as in
Portland, she said. And there
is an overall housing shortage
in Coos Bay. So, like many
This article is part of Street Roots’ Housing
other families, she and Josh
Rural Oregon series. Street Roots received
“van” in the Walmart parking
funding from Meyer Memorial Trusts
lo t
They have found a small
Affordable Housing Initiative to develop
community of “vanning”
dedicated reporting on rural housing issues.
friends who look out for one
The goal is to broaden our views around
another as much as they can.
housing policy to promote better
They park their cars next to
understanding of the issues communities face
one another’s for extra safety,
across the state. We also intend to highlight
and when times get tough,
the common ground that we all share, and the
they pool their resources.
solutions we can all get behind.
For the most part, this local
Walmart appears to tolerate its
back parking lot being
dedicated to the homeless
community. The local police even drive
though from time to time to make sure
everyone remains safe.
Sara knows h er situation is not sustainable.
At th e time she spoke with Street Roots, she
was attempting to get a used RV. For her, this
About this series
would be a more permanent situation because
no one ¿an take I t away from her, and it can
go wherever they need to go.
Food
facilities. Walmart is not a fan of fires of any
sort in their parking lots. Sara said that
they’ve tried going to the beach to cook a
meal, but they just end up wasting propane
because of the wind.
By the end of the month, most people in
the vanning community have run out of
money forfood and gas, and most have used
up their food stamps. Sara and h e r vanning
friends are quick to share their food and
supplies with others who are more in need.
As Michelle, Sara’s friend, explained: “We
don’t have a lot, but we share a lo t”
The Coos Bay area has five shelters th a t
serve hot meals fo people experiencing
homelessness, according to The Devereux
Center, one of the shelters. Several serve
hot meals Monday through Saturday. Sara
avoids the one that serves on Sundays, she
said, because it caters to mafy clientele, and
she fears encountering sex offenders.
For Sara, accessing a hot meal depends on
Employment
having enough gas in the van. Many times,
she’s had enough gas to get to the shelter, but
Sara is college educated and has a strong
not enough to return to home base. These are work background. Finding companies that are
the days they’ve had to miss a meal. And on
hiring is not hard. There are “help wanted”
Sundays - Sara’s hardest day - the support of
signs all over Coos. Bay, she said. Even
her vanning community is crucial.
looking online, one can find a lot of
Sara is also on food stamps, receiving $257 _ companies hiring.
a month. That’s roughly $60 a week to feed
The hard part comes when Sarah has to
her and her son. They have gone without food put down an address.
In Portland, there sue numerous shelters
in the p a st
Storing food is a challenge though. Sara
that allow individuals to use their addresses
has a cooler in her van, but it doesn’t keep
on applications. In Coos Bay, there are three,
food cold for m ore than a few days. This leads
but two require the individuals to actually live
there. This leaves Sara with one option, The
to more frequent grocery store trips and a
Devereux Center, which has a well-known and
higherfood bill.
Another struggle is their lack of cooking
-well-used address.
Sara believes that when employers see .her
address, they immediately know she’s
homeless and won’t consider her for a
position. This is based on her numerous
attempts to apply for work. She said she
applied for 15 jobs in a two-week period and
never heard back from any of them.
In a small town, the discrimination and
sham e experienced by homeless people is :
exacerbated. And on the.coast, where meth
addiction runs high, there is a stereotype that
people who are homeless are addicts.
Sara understands that she could probably
get a fast-food job, but she said it’s a “double-
edged sword.” If she werfelo apply for a
better job elsewhere, she said, the small time
of working at a fast-food restaurant could
raise a red flag and discourage better
employers.
At the time Sara spoke with Street Roots,
she was receiving $432 a month in welfare
assistance. To keep her benefits, Sara is
required to search and apply for jobs 35 hours
a week.
The average price ofa,one-bedroom
apartment in Cdbs Bay is $600; $760 for a 2 '
bedroom, according to November rental
statistics.
Pets
Another big issue for Sara is her animals.
The shelters in Coos Bay don’t allow the
animals inside the premises. And as one »
might imagine, a car with two dogs and two
cats can have some foul odors. Sara is well
aware of the smell. Regardless, she is
dedicated to keeping their family together.
If she didn’t have the animals, Sara would
potentially have an easier time finding shelter
for her andjosh. She has even been accused
of puttingher animalsbefore her son. To that,
she says her animals are their family. Josh
would be devastated without their
companionship.
Not only that, but their dog Phoenix, who’s
part Dobermann, is their security guard. He
is the first to notice when someone is trying
to break into their van in the middle of the
night
. Above all, the animals keep Sara and Josh
warm. As the winter months roll in, staying
warm is getting harder and harder.
Optimism
Daily life is stressful, and so is homeless
life. And Sara and her friend Michelle are
upfront that they enjoy the occasional bottle
of w in e o rb e e r when money allows.
“Just because we are in this position does
not mean we are not allowed the same kind of
liberty and freedom that other people are :
allowed,” Michelle said.
Both Sara and Michelle said
that there’s an expectation
that when you’re homeless,
you should have nothing. It ‘
leaves them feeling small and
demeaned.
At the end of the day,
there is light at the endof
the tunnel for Sara and
* Caos Bay
Josh.
“This isn’t th é end of th e
world,” Sara said. “Â lot of
people think that once this
happens to you, this is i t ”
Sara and Michelle said it’s
good that their kids are acclimating to this
way of living. Yes, they might know more
about life than they should, but they know not
to judge people for the way they live or look.
The mothers are proud of the lessons their
kids are learning.
Recently, Sara has been able to purchase
a used RV and is now on the hunt for finding
a place to park it long term . She has also
found part-time work and is trying to obtain
a job at thé Departm ent of Human Services.
“We are crawling but of this,” she said,
“one firmly placed nail at a time.”
. * Sara, Michelle and Josh are pseudonyms.
They did not want their real names used
because o f their homeless situation.
COOS BAY
People in poverty:
Coos Bay - 22 percent, 5-year
average, 2012-16,
Countywide in Coos County, the
average is 18 percent - nearly
11,000 people. But in its rural towns,
poverty rates spike between 22 and
31 percent.
Homeless:
The 2015 Point in Time Homeless
Count tallied 612 people who were
homeless, although those numbers
are widely considered an
I undercount.
‘ Source: Oregon Housing and Community Services
2015 Report on Poverty