As the executive director of Trash for Peace, a nonprofit that provides sustainability education and low-barrier job opportunities in waste prevention and recycling, I have seen first-hand the impact of COVID-19 on the houseless community in Portland. The recent decision by Mayor Ted Wheeler and Commissioner Dan Ryan to evict residents of Hazelnut Grove in the middle of winter and a global pandemic is inhumane and exacerbates the housing crisis faced by our most vulnerable residents.
I first visited Hazelnut Grove over a year ago, on the day Barbie Weber, our Ground Score Association co-founder and coordinator, moved in. It was cold and raining, but what I remember is the unshakeable kindness and warmth of her neighbors.
Since then, Barbie and her home have blossomed, literally — she has a robust garden, pictures on the walls and knick knacks she has “ground scored,” or reclaimed from being tossed in the trash. It is a space that provides shelter, showers and safety, but more importantly, community — a critical component of survival, especially during this unprecedented year of COVID-19.
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When COVID-19 began, grocery stores stopped accepting redeemable cans and bottles, immediately leaving hundreds of Portlanders without a vital source of income. One of our programs, The People’s Depot, is a peer-led bottle and can redemption service that began as a response to this crisis. Since then, The People’s Depot, of which Barbie is also a coordinator, has distributed over $85,000 in revenue to an average of 140 individuals each week, almost all of whom self-identify as houseless. The People’s Depot is part of Ground Score Association, a peer-led initiative of Trash for Peace that is collectively organized and seeks to be radically inclusive, prioritizing low-barrier waste management work opportunities for those facing work and housing insecurity.
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Over the past two years I have been constantly inspired by how hard Barbie works to give her family, friends and community more opportunities to thrive, even under the most difficult of circumstances. The stability and support provided by Hazelnut Grove, the space to garden, to cook, to feel safe, is simply beautiful. We need more places like this, not less. Giving people the opportunity to create their own boundaries and community guidelines allows them to fill their own cups, to remember their own strength and dignity. And nothing is more powerful and healing than that.
Residents and advocates know the location of Hazelnut Grove is problematic, so when the city announced the alternative village being built in St. Johns, we were eager to cooperate. But unlike Hazelnut Grove, we learned that the space in St. Johns will not be self-governed. While villages that are not peer-run are good for some, they can be penalizing and further exacerbate the difficult circumstances others are trying to escape. For example, requiring residents to pursue housing and/or background checks and/or requiring residents to adhere to specific drug and alcohol policies, not only immediately disqualifies some potential residents, but can be suffocating and extremely stressful for others. This will inevitably result in many residents being back on the street, losing the community that has supported and sustained them throughout this terrible year.
There are ways to avert this crisis, but not under the duress of having to evacuate the most secure and beloved space people have lived in, in the middle of winter, in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic. I demand that Ted Wheeler and Dan Ryan extend their deadline until spring or summer, and give this community more time to regroup and come up with a plan to ensure their own safe and secure community can remain intact. I demand that Ted Wheeler and Dan Ryan, when they wake up on a frigid morning in winter, imagine what it would be like to face the possibility of having to live on the street.
I demand that our city commissioners do what they promised to do — to actually act as public servants with all of our community members’ best interests at heart.