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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 8, 2012)
Februaiy 8, 2012__________________ ^ P o rtla n d Observer B lack HÌStOiy M o n th Mississippi Alberta North Portland MET KO Bud Clark Page II Vancouver East County Beaverton SU C C E SS New housing a dent in fighting homelessness by M indy C ooper T he P ortland O bserver A fter six-m onths o f providing affordable housing to thousands o f P o rtlan d ’s m ost vulnerable and chronically hom eless, the B ud C lark C om m ons has been deem ed an early success by both residents and the city. A s part o f a 10-year plan to red u ce hom elessness, the apartm ent com plex on N orthw est B roadw ay A venue near U nion Station, provides a safe place to call hom e for 130 low -incom e residents, w hile also pro v id ing tenants and the public a m ulti-resource cen ter and com puter lab, a day center, on-call m anagem ent, and m ental health and ad d ic tion services. cessibility o f the staff and the m ental health services provided. “ B efore I w as m ore o f a loner,” he said. “ But since I’ve been here, I interact m ore with p e o p le.” H e said access to staff is also very easy. “ W hen you need som eone, you get in touch w ith them right aw ay.” W itt said he also tries to do anything he can to help ou t around the com plex. “ I em ptied a vacuum for a staff m em ber,” he said w ith a sm ile. “ I am also pretty good online. O ne unique quality o f Bud C lark in c o m parison to other housing for hom eless people, in addition to the plethora o f services w ithin the building, is the lack o f sobriety require m ents for tenants living on site. “O ne reason this (B ud C lark) is w orking as w ell as it is, is that they d id n ’t put restrictions on it,” said A nnie A dam s, a tenant since Ju ly . “W e d o n ’t require people to participate, Tenant Annie Adams enjoys some time with a canine companion in the community room o f the Bud Clark Commons, where she has lived in her own affordable housing apartment unit since July. Previously she was homeless for more than seven years. One reason this (Bud Clark) is working as well as it is, is that they didn’t put restrictions on it. - Annie Adams, Bud Clark Commons tenant T he eight-story building, including a 90 b ed m e n ’s sh elter, w as m ade p o ssib le through partnerships betw een the P ortland H ousing B ureau, H om e F orw ard (form erly, the H ousing A uthority o f Portland), T ran si tion Projects, Inc., and M ultnom ah C ounty. A lthough there is m ore need fo r affo rd able housing for residents in Portland, a recent report on the progress for Bud C lark C om m ons said the day cen ter alone has served m ore th a n 4,000 people, including 300 w ho have found perm anent roofs over their h ead s. D o re en ’s Place, the nam e o f the m e n ’s shelter that provides space for hom eless m en, particularly veterans, has served 300 individuals and helped 80 find hom es, in cluding 4 0 V eterans w ho now live in p erm a nent housing. T he com m ons took tw o years before open ing its doors in June, w hen a w aiting list to receive a unit w as already 150 nam es long. T oday, the w aiting list to receive housing in the building has reached 300. R esident C hristian W itt, w ho has lived at B ud C lark for six-m onths now , spent m ore than 23-years o f his life hitchhiking around the country w hile battling alcoholism and m ental health issues. N ow , he said his favorite part about living in the affordable apartm ent units is the a c b u t th ey te n d to ,” said R achael D uke, building m an ag er o f the com m ons. A dam s said m ov ing into a new hom e and try in g to deal w ith all o f life ’s o b stacles is often very difficult, and change is a p r o c e s s th a t needs to be taken one step at a tim e. “A lot o f people, w hen in that survival m ode, have to deal w ith it in w hatever w ay is best for yo u ,” she said. T h e tr a n s itio n from the streets to a hom e can be a diffi cult adjustm ent for so m e te n a n ts w ho photos by M indy C ooper /T he P ortland O bserver have been hom eless Rachael Duke, building manager o f the Bud Clark Commons, a new 130-unit affordable housing complex fo r decades. and multi-resource center downtown, speaks about the facility to a visiting college architecture class. A d a m s, m o th e r and gran d m o th er to tw o boys, w as hom eless “ I w as excited, bu t I w as also very ap p re the w orst after recession, along w ith thou fo r seven years before m oving to the co m hensive. I felt guilty because there are so sands o f others, w hen she suddenly lost her m ons. She w as overw helm ed w hen she heard m any people out there w ho need it,” she said. continued on page 14 she had h er ow n place to live. According to Adam s, her life m ade a turn for
