Street Roots is launching a long-term reporting project and new coverage section: The Orange Fence Project. The project, which focuses on homelessness policy, enforcement and impact in Portland, will serve as the city’s only newspaper section devoted entirely to homelessness — it has no expiration date.
The project derives its name from the orange safety fences often used in an effort to stop unhoused Portlanders from moving back into an area after encampments are swept by city contractors. It’s a symbol of power, division and displacement to homeless Portlanders.
In line with Street Roots’ standards, stories will combine data, public records and peoples’ experiences to tell the whole story. While we will not ignore housed people or business owners who say they are negatively impacted by homelessness, we will avoid sensationalized narratives and unverified anecdotes villainizing our city’s most vulnerable populations.
Much of our prior coverage would have been placed in the new section had it existed — including Taylor Griggs’ prior stories on Safe Rest Villages or Latisha Jensen’s exploration of “Domicile Unknown” detailing a record high of deaths among homeless Portlanders in 2020.
All stories published in the new section will be printed in our weekly newspaper and hosted on the Street Roots website at streetroots.org/orange-fence-project.
In the coming weeks, Street Roots will also launch the city’s first independent Sweep Tracker, providing realtime information about the removal of homeless encampments. Community members will report when a camp is posted for removal and Street Roots will follow up by confirming the report and publishing it. We will then use those reports to increase our engagement with unhoused Portlanders and strengthen our coverage. Street Roots will publish detailed instructions about how and what to submit when the Sweep Tracker portion of the project goes live.
The success of The Orange Fence Project will rely heavily on community engagement and crowdsourced information.
The purpose and goals of the project are enshrined in its mission statement:
The Orange Fence Project seeks to improve public understanding of the daily lives of homeless Portlanders and the systemic and personal circumstances through which people became homeless. By reporting on personal experiences, testimony, data and improving accountability for public officials, Street Roots will identify and report more feasible steps to address homelessness.
Homelessness and the enforcement of local laws on homeless people are almost entirely untracked by independent groups. As a result, the effects of these laws and enforcement — positive or negative — are largely unstudied and unknown. By engaging community members and implementing a solutions journalism framework, this project will address gaps in public knowledge while revealing potential solutions to systemic issues.
Through rigorous reporting, public record gathering, crowdsourced information and continued observation, Street Roots will provide the first independent encampment sweep tracker and comprehensive overview of homelessness policy and enforcement in the history of Portland.
Street Roots is an award-winning weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots. Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today.
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