Portland’s unhoused population complains of little access to showers and clean clothes
Portland city officials have opened up park bathrooms and added 21 handwashing stations around the city to help people experiencing homelessness avoid spreading the coronavirus. But it’s unclear how effective these measures will be because access to showers and clean clothes has shrunk considerably since the virus came to Oregon.
“It took me two weeks to get a shower,” Melissa Hansen told Street Roots. She’s been staying at Walnut Park Shelter. Twice, she’s waited in line at Transitions Projects’ resource center in Old Town and given up.
“Couldn’t stay in line that long. It’s just frustrating,” she said. She resorted to using baby wipes and bird baths to clean herself.
Several organizations that provide showering facilities to people experiencing homelessness, such as JOIN and Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, have temporarily canceled showering services completely.
Others, such as Transition Projects, Family Solutions, St. Francis Dining Hall and Catholic Charities women’s shelter on Southeast Powell, have reduced the number of people who can access a shower each day as they strive to comply with social distancing measures and extra sanitation precautions.
The extra cleaning takes about 15 minutes between each shower, said Catholic Charities Chief Program Officer Rose Bak.
“We are just double and triple sanitizing between people just to make sure,” Bak said.
Catholic Charities is operating with “an abundance of caution” because the population it serves is highly vulnerable health-wise, she said. About five to six people are able to shower each day with all the extra cleaning, which is half the number of people who typically would be able to access the shower there, Bak said.
“I don’t feel human right now,” said Racheal Dulaney, who lives at the Right 2 Dream Too camp. It’s been 10 days since she last showered. She said the lack of showers is especially hard on women who have additional sanitation needs.
“It’s humiliating for women. I know that’s TMI (too much information),” she said, “but I can’t imagine if I had my cycle and couldn’t clean up.”
Finding clean clothes is another challenge. Many providers who typically offer free clothing to people experiencing homelessness, such as CityTeam and Central City Concern’s ROC center, have ceased distribution. Others, such as Portland Rescue Mission, are now offering it on an emergency basis only and have limited access to people who are staying at their shelters. Because laundry services are difficult to access, as well, this leaves many with few options for clean and dry clothing.
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Chris Drake, who has been living in a tent off Interstate Avenue in North Portland, said he’s seen people walking around in tattered clothing and who have asked to buy clean clothes from him. He said he considers himself lucky because he laundered his clothes right before all the closures began.
“People are out there in half-fallen-off clothes because they just need something to put over themselves,” Drake said.
Not only does the lack of access to showering and clean clothes makes quelling the spread of the virus difficult for people experiencing homelessness, but it’s also making a hard life more miserable, several people told to Street Roots.
Conversations around the establishment of a large outdoor medical mall for the city’s houseless population, which would include additional sanitation resources, have been underway among Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty’s office, Mayor Ted Wheeler’s office and Old Town service providers, including Street Roots.
Harbor of Hope has continued to roll out its 28-foot shower and laundry trucks, said its deputy director, Lisa Marandas, and is expanding its services to assist with the new temporary shelters. It has added three supplemental showering units outside the Convention Center, and will bring one of its trucks there for handicap accessible showering, as well. Marandas said the trucks don’t pull away until everyone in line has had a chance to shower.
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Marandas said the nonprofit is trying to obtain additional showering units, but “everyone in the country is looking for these shower units right now,” she said.
It is also fundraising for additional trucks that can visit more locations. Right now, the two trucks it has offer showers and laundry at the following locations:
• 147 NW 19th Ave. from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays.
The Joint Office of Homeless Services is keeping a periodically updated list of social service closures and offerings on its website .
Email Senior Staff Reporter Emily Green at emily@streetroots.org . Follow her on Twitter @greenwrites .
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