Opinion
Homelessness and immigration: A global crisis
Imagine a woman asleep in a small apartment in a Southern state with her two children. Suddenly there is a knock on the door. “Who is it?” A male voice answers: “Open the door; I am an ICE agent.” Fear in her heart, she goes to the door and with a trembling voice says, “No,…
A century of fighting for Oregon’s women
In 1916, Portland helped draw widespread attention to the reproductive rights movement when Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger was arrested for distributing pamphlets about birth control. Yes, birth control. Sanger had founded the American Birth Control League after watching her mother endure 18 pregnancies in 22 years before dying at the age of 49. So…
Director’s Desk: It’s time to take action on housing in Oregon
It’s hard to put into words the trauma we see on the streets every day, much less how it has affected my peers and me over the years. It pales in comparison to how it actually affects the people that go through the hell that is losing a home and experiencing homelessness. Sadly, I could…
News
Report finds inadequacies in placement, treatment of Oregon’s mentally ill youths
In Oregon, kids with mental health needs who come into state custody are being warehoused in juvenile detention facilities because there’s nowhere better to place them, according to a draft report from the Oregon Judicial Department. Additionally, as these youths bounce between the care of different state agencies, their service providers and medications often change, their medical records…
Oregon Innocence Project’s Aliza Kaplan: Criminal injustice ‘every single day’
Aliza Kaplan tells her students at Lewis & Clark Law School, “You have to be really open because you never know when the moment or opportunity will arise, and you want to be able to say ‘yes’ or try it out.” These students are a huge part of Kaplan’s work these days. She is a…
With domestic violence shelters full, advocates make housing top priority
Finding a safe place to stay when fleeing an abusive relationship remains a nearly insurmountable challenge for many domestic violence survivors in Portland’s tight and unrelenting rental market. As Street Roots reported in November, the lack of reasonably priced housing options and long wait times to get into domestic violence shelters means many victims must…
The end of the Joyce Hotel: Where will the homeless go?
The Joyce Hotel, one of downtown’s last rental havens for Portland’s homeless, has given notice to its residents to vacate the premises by March 30. The mass eviction order was posted by Precision Property Management Corp. on Dec. 31, giving residents 90 days to evacuate the location because the hotel was permanently closing. The low-barrier,…
Vendor Profiles
Street Roots vendor profile: Christopher
Before Christopher sat down for his interview, his priority was to help a fellow vendor. He carefully wrote down shelter information for his colleague, and only then was he ready to talk. “I think at the most basic level, any help is really just giving information,” Christopher said. Christopher grew up in Yuma, Ariz., where…
