Street Roots is currently participating on a committee convened by Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman and County Commissioner Deborah Kafoury to determine where $1.7 million should go to support housing and homeless services.
It’s great to think that the city of Portland may choose to dedicate this money toward homeless and housing services at this time, especially given that the mayor has signaled that it’s time to start paying off debt and saving for a rainy day.
Luckily, we have elected leaders in Portland who realize that thousands of people sleeping on our streets are in a very vulnerable state.
Only a few weeks ago, one of our vendors experienced a domestic violence crisis. Street Roots spent the afternoon with the woman, trying to connect her with services. We know the gauntlet. It’s not an easy one.
After trying for hours to find a place to sleep that night she was told that she was number 122 on a waiting list at the local emergency women’s shelter. “One-hundred and twenty-two. That’s crazy,” I said to myself.
After making further inquiries about the emergency women’s shelter later that week I was shocked and believe me, nothing is shocking in my world. There are currently two emergency women’s shelters available. The waitlist is a combined 338 women in crisis. You’ve got to be kidding me.
I suppose I knew it all along. There are thousands of people sleeping on our streets. Maybe it was something about that particular day, or watching our staff try to help a vendor find a safe place to sleep — to get away from her perpetrator, only to have to sleep in a doorway that night. It left me angry.
Unfortunately, we see this kind of trauma and tragedy every single day. We become numb to it at times. It’s a dangerous place to be.
We haven’t seen that vendor since that day. We all wonder if she’s OK.
The proposed $1.7 million sounds like a lot of money, but when thinking about how to disperse that money, it’s apparent that the system is stretched thin.
Should we allocate funds to just women and children? Should use the funds to support mental health programs? Should we think about how to serve the youth population? Should we try to make a big splash in one certain area or spread the dollars out over the entire continuum? Will city hall support the recommendations we come up with? We hope so.
We know that in the coming months and years that to get back to funding levels seen before the recession and before a Congress that has gone absolutely batshit crazy on us, that we have work to do.
The conversation about homelessness (see editorial) and public opinion has gone sideways on us. Instead of hearing smart and educated people talk about everyone needing a safe place to call home, or having compassion for our residents, we hear words such as lawlessness, the need for sidewalk laws, and the lack of civility on our streets. Compassion fatigue looms.
Street Roots, being the constant optimist, still believes all is not lost. The reality is, we’re making some great strides and there’s reason for hope. It may not feel like it at times, but it’s true.
Just yesterday, one of our vendors got off the phone and did a little dance. “I’m finally getting health care. I’m getting health care. Thank you Mr. President.” Yes!
Watching the vendor stroll through the office with a new sense of being, it struck me that while we struggle at a systems level to get things right, individually and collectively we are making great strides — both big and small.
The simple fact that over the next two years, the majority of people on the streets will be able to access health care is a lifetime achievement for all of us. Having a local government that believes in prioritizing people is not a given. It’s a game changer. It’s something we can all celebrate.
