By Israel Bayer, Staff Writer
Homelessness in our community and cities throughout the
country has become the new normal. That’s a problem.
Three decades ago, the federal government began slashing
housing and mental health programs. The bleeding has never stopped. The rise of
modern-day homelessness in the 1980s came with a response of anger and concern
by many people living in urban environments who believe that no human being
should be without shelter and housing.
During that time we’ve seen many progressive local
communities work to backfill the loss of federal and state dollars. We now
stand on a dangerous and blurry line that has local communities fatigued and
questioning how many resources it will actually take to tackle the problem.
Entire generations are now born into a time when
homelessness is built into the fabric of urban living. It’s no longer abnormal
to see a homeless person in a doorway on your way to work or school.
Individuals and families may have different responses to homelessness itself,
but ultimately the idea of actually ending homelessness on a massive scale
feels like a long shot to many.
When I started this work 15 years ago, I was astounded at
the reality of poverty. I’m an optimist, but I couldn’t understand why people
didn’t recognize the inhumane treatment of people experiencing homelessness.
People were sick, the elderly uncared for, the mentally ill ignored. People
died, and society and people in power didn’t seem to care. At least that’s how
I internalized it. I protested. I got arrested. I swam against the current and
raged against the machine for not offering enough resources to combat poverty
in our community.
Those turbulent emotions continue to this day. But so does
the optimism. Working on the front lines of poverty you become a shell of your
former self and realize that if you’re working for long-term change that it’s a
marathon and not a sprint. You have to find a way to work with others and find
ways to inspire change in the community. For every tragedy that occurs on the
streets, there’s someone who overcomes his or her circumstance, sometimes
against all odds.
I believe that we as a community, and specifically our local
and state government, are at a crossroads. The one thing we know is that real
relief from the feds isn’t coming to solve this problem. As we move forward
with new leadership and a changing economy — it’s imperative that we don’t lose
any more ground on the poverty front.
With new legislative leadership in Oregon and a new mayor
and council in Portland, with the shifting of local resources to and from
different government bodies — we ask all of our elected representatives to
prioritize poverty in not only the upcoming budget, but in the next decade. We
look to our leaders to go above and beyond the normal speak and to do great
things on the poverty front. This is no time to give up.
This article appears in 2013-01-18.