October 14, 2015
Page 3
INSIDE
The
Week in Review
O PINION
This page
Sponsored by:
page 2
pages 8-9
L OCAL N EWS
No Place to Call Home
Housing
emergency has
no clear answers
o livia o livia
t he p ortland o bserver
It’s the middle of a weekday
afternoon and Thomas Edward
Mullen has just taken the bus
downtown for his three minutes
on a microphone. He, like scores
of other residents, long prepared
their short speeches to deliver to
the City Council on their housing
woes.
Mullen’s story is not that dif-
ferent from many others heard
that day: He had a home, many
years ago, but lost it. He aged; he
was injured, and could not afford
to pay for rent and medical care
without a job. As you can guess,
precious few employers were in-
terested in hiring an aging, dis-
abled black man.
Soon, Mullen says he found
himself on the streets, where he
lived for several years. Now he’s
at the Clark Center on Martin
Luther King Boulevard, a 90-bed
short-term residential program for
men that provides the supports
needed to move out of homeless-
ness.
The complex features an on-
site computer lab, mental health
counseling, life skills, and case
management, but stays are only
up to four months. Mullen does
not know where he will live next.
“If I were a country, I’d have
my flag turned upside down,”
Mullen said about his situation.
“I’m old, I can’t work no more. I
put so many years in and lost my
home, and now I have no where
left to go.”
by
M ETRO
page 11
pages
10-17
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
C LASSIFIEDS
O BITUARIES
C ALENDAR
F OOD
page 17
page 18
page 19
page 20
photo by o livia o livia /t he p ortland o bserver
Thomas Edward Mullen, a Portland resident who lost his home to
homelessness, awaits his turn to speak during last week’s dis-
cussion of a citywide housing emergency before the Portland City
Council.
He stared at the line of others
wanting to speak, and said he was
not sure if he would even be al-
lowed to talk due to the number of
people. “It’s a long shot but I want
to try, I came here today to try,”
he said.
The urgency and concern from
renters was palpable during the
Oct. 7 hearing. So were the ten-
sions between tenants and land-
lords, city developers and local
and state leaders.
Katrina Holland, deputy direc-
tor for the Community Alliance of
Tenants, explained that her orga-
nization has been trying to more
clearly focus on the affordability
of renting in the area.
“Affordable housing – what
they usually mean is subsidized
housing or state housing – is not
enough and not what we are fo-
cusing on. That’s why we re-es-
tablished this as a Renters’ State
of Emergency, not just a housing
C ontinued on p age 4
First Indigenous Peoples’ Day
Portland celebrated its first ever
Indigenous Peoples’ Day on Mon-
day changing what was formerly
known as Columbus Day.
Joining several other commu-
nities across America, the Port-
land City Council adopted the
holiday as a way to support lo-
cal native communities on what
was traditionally a day used to
celebrate the colonization of the
Americas.
Portland is home to the
ninth-largest Native American
population in the United States,
and its urban Native community
is descended from more than 200
tribes. The history of indigenous
communities in Portland is wo-
ven into the fabric of the city; a
shared commitment to environ-
mental stewardship and love of
place continue to make Portland
a leader in sustainability and liva-
bility, officials said.
“The movement to make this
day a reality in the U.S began
decades ago, so this resolution is
long overdue,” said Dante James,
director of Portland’s Office of
Equity and Human Rights. “I am
pleased that Portland is honoring
the history, spirit and contribu-
tions of American Indian com-
munities with whom we share our
city and region.”