Restricting access to income goes against everything Street Roots believes
The most recent anti-homeless campaign by downtown’s Portland’s Clean and Safe Program and the Portland Business Alliance would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous.
The public relations campaign includes A-boards around the city along with a billboard downtown, which shows a person holding a cardboard sign that reads “Your spare change funds my addictions.” The hope is that people will give money to the Real Change Not Spare Change fund and local nonprofits working with people experiencing homelessness.
Street Roots thinks you should give your money to whoever you want. The idea that people experiencing homelessness shouldn’t have access to income goes against everything Street Roots believes. We know first hand that money used from selling Street Roots goes to improve people’s quality of life.
The program lacks both compassion and political sophistication and overrides any real conversations around the progress we are making in ending homelessness. It’s worth noting that the PBA has been trying to make this program successful going on 10 years with no impact alleviating the vital needs of the homeless.
Moreso, the PBA’s latest campaign comes on the heels of its recent public relations crusade targeting both Mayor Charlie Hales and Multnomah County’s leadership for not doing enough on homelessness, and calling for the remote, mothballed Wapato jail to become a homeless shelter. It did all of this fully knowing it was neither practical nor politically viable to support a homeless shelter 10 miles from the nearest essential services.
FROM OUR ARCHIVES: Wapato a bad idea for people on the streets (editorial)
It is misleading directives like these that keep the political will for real solutions mired in petty blame games and self-righteous rhetoric. It’s a waste of all our time. You can do better, PBA.
