Housing
Dan Ryan yet to respond to June call for new tenant protections
What would Portland renters do if their landlord shut off the water and refused to turn it back on? While dirty dishes accumulated and they were trying to figure out how to get a shower, what would be available to them as a recourse? Unless renters have the finances to hire a lawyer or could…
Opinion
Opinion | We need a new unemployment insurance system
With the Federal Reserve pushing up interest rates, we appear headed for a new recession. Sadly, our unemployment insurance system remains broken: too few unemployed individuals receive benefits and the benefits are far too low. As a result, the next recession, when it comes, will again bring unnecessary suffering to millions of American workers and…
Kaia Sand | Portland City Council is using a red state playbook
The policy bans camping, citing homeless people with misdemeanors and ordering them to go to newly built public camps — or jail. Funding is redirected from permanently supportive housing to these public camps. Sound like Portland? Kaia Sand is the executive director of Street Roots. This column represents her views. It's actually policy drafted by the Austin-based…
Vendor Profiles
Street Roots vendor profile | Speaking truth to power
Living unhoused in pre-pandemic Portland, Randy Humphreys was a victim of a city sweep in which contractors discarded his personal belongings like trash. For unhoused folks, the items they have with them at a given time or in their tents are often all they own in the world. Humphreys’ story is not an uncommon one…
