I'm Homeless but I'm Still a Person

BuzzFeed Video went out into the streets to talk to real homeless people to try and debunk the stigma of the homeless population. There are many negative connotations when it comes to the homeless population, making the issue gain little traction amongst society. Some of the ones that are mentioned in the video include laziness, mental issues, drug abuse, etc. However these negative stereotypes don't make homeless people any less human. To me this video is not necessarily promoting hanging out with homeless people but I think it's more showing that these people are worth the time and money to help and we should want to help them. Many people, namely Republicans, feel that the homeless people shouldn't be helped because it was their fault that they fell into those circumstances. But for many homelessness came as a shock. People don't choose to be homeless there are many factors that can happen that lead them down that path. Today we had a discussion in my mock trial class about this video and I thought the perspectives were very interesting. My teacher claimed that we should still be afraid of homeless people because there are a large percentage who suffer from drug dependency and mental illnesses. However many students combatted saying that you can't make assumptions about a group of people and that just because some do have those problems that doesn't mean they aren't good people who shouldn't be helped. In fact that should give even more reason as to why we should help them. Without the proper resources and support these people will continue to live in the cycle of homelessness. It is our duty as people to help those in need. Wouldn't you want someone to help you if you were in this situation?

-Lynette Daigo

L.A.'s Homeless Epidemic

The homeless population in Los Angeles jumped 5.7% compared to last year. There was a huge increase in the number of camps offering evidence to the epidemic across the country. However there has been a 30% drop in the number of homeless veterans and an 18% decrease in homeless families. Both of these decreases were a result from more spending on housing vouchers for veterans and an increase in temporary shelters for homeless families. Although this does lead to decrease in the homeless population the reason for the actual increase is because there has been more accountability for young homeless people. To help continue combatting homelessness the L.A. county board have to moved to increase spending on housing by $98 million. The city however wants to add an additional $138 million to combat this. Mr. Garcetti, the mayor of L.A., said “we need hands on deck to tackle this crisis.” With an increase in funding and correct allocation there is a way to decrease homelessness.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-peck/las-homeless-count-is-sob_b_9888896.html
-Lynette Daigo

SHIFT Happens: Debunking Homeless Myths

A few months ago, our group ran a poll to discover what myths people believed to be true about homelessness.

On Thursday, May 19th, our SHIFT group held a forum for our high school's students with the goal of raising awareness about the realities of the homeless population in Portland. We were very fortunate to have a variety of speakers join us Thursday evening. Here are the highlights:

The Portland Police gave us an overview about some of the legal aspects to homelessness. In particular, they spoke about the implementation of a program within their team that helped with outreach. Now, they have built more positive relationships with homeless individuals and have found an increase level of trust between the homeless and their team. Students got to view a presentation that showed some statistics, including how crime rates have gone down since the program began.

Next, members from Janus Youth Program talked about volunteering and outreach. One program they spoke about is called Yellow Brick Road. They target youth by sending volunteers out at night to hand out necessary hygiene items. More important than these items, they said, are the relationships they can create through personal contact.

A representative from Central City Concern followed. He had been previously homeless, and spoke about how one overall, homelessness cannot be caused by solely one reason. Despite this, he said that it is common that some sort of trauma can be found in the homeless persona. While trauma can vary per person, often it involves a rough childhood or family life, time spent serving in the military, or certain involvement with drugs or crime. He also added that homelessness itself is traumatic. When thinking about the homeless, it is important to remember that they are human and have dealt with sometime unimaginable things in their lives. Compassion and understanding are the best ways to approach a conversation with a homeless individual.

Finally, we were lucky to have members from JOIN speak to us. They brought in a currently homeless man who gave a thought-provoking speech. He spoke about how he went from having it all to suddenly having it all taken away and his life as a homeless man. Something he mentioned that was especially enlightening was that homelessness had become more comfortable than living in housing, to the point that a month ago he left housing that JOIN put him in and made the conscious choice to become homeless again. He also spoke about remaining a genuine and respectful human being no matter our lot in life. He came to the conclusion that we must be the best version of ourselves at all times, and to never be self-centered. He said that since he was homeless, he would be the best homeless man he could be. This reminder is important to carry with us throughout life.

Thanks to all the students who came to learn more about this very important local issue and the members of our SHIFT group who helped make this forum happen!

-Samantha

What we have been doing with your money…  

Over the past couple of months we have been raising money from people in our school. Let me tell you what it has been used for. 

Knowing our limits as a small group of high schoolers we decided that we should donate our goods to a well established, well known organization that could spread the goods we give them to a mass number of people in need. With their ability to reach out to more people they can do more with what we give them. 

So we did research and found that the Transitions Projects are our best bet. First we volunteered for them to get a sense of how they run and if they were the group we wanted to work with. They were a good fit and from there we were off. We emailed them and got the lists of what they needed most.

We hosted an Item drive and raised money. With the money we raised we went to the Goodwill bins stores and bought over 140 lbs of clothing. Next we went to the Dollar Tree and spent the rest of our money on toiletries. With a truck full of items we drove down to Portland and dropped off our loads of stuff. 

With a warm welcome we unloaded our goodies and headed home. It was a great experience to volunteer with the Transitions Projects but it was also insightful buying the items. There are many things we take for granted that are important day to day. What would life be like if you didn't have access to a pad on you period? If you couldn't brush your teeth everyday because you did have a toothbrush. My heart goes out to the people in this world who can no longer take good hygiene for granted because they simply can't afford it. We will still accept money through the end of the year but I implore you to go out and and donate some of your own time to help people who have very little. It is not only a good feeling to help others but might cause you to gain some perspective. 

-Sammi

Gentrification in Portland

As many of you may know, Portland has recently become a very popular place to live with Oregon being the number one state people moved to in 2015, and in fact, it has stayed at the top of this list for three years. Unfortunately, Portland also tops the list of the most gentrified cities in America. According to statistics provided by a report called Gentrification in America, Portland gentrified 58.1% of the eligible tracts. Essentially this means that of the regions in Portland that met the qualifications to be gentrified, almost 60% of them were.

Gentrification in Portland is heavily focused
on neighborhoods in Northeast Portland

Gentrification is a process that basically increases the property values of lower-income urban communities through wealthier people purchasing and renovating properties, therefore increasing their value. This rapid increase forces many of the lower-income families as well as small businesses to be displaced from the community because they can no longer afford it. As neighborhoods in Portland become less and less affordable and rate of people moving to Portland becomes greater, this means more families are being kicked out of their homes and sometimes even forced to move out of the city entirely.

This is a huge concern, because if residents or families are already precariously housed, for example are facing eviction or are living with friend or relative, this rising gentrification can push them out onto the streets or shelters. Although there is no silver bullet to end gentrification, it is extremely important that Portland combats this displacement of lower-income neighborhoods. Not only is gentrification directly adding to Portland's rising homeless population, but the decrease in affordable housing also makes it far more difficult for people to make their way off of the streets and back into stable housing.

-Kendra

Wait... How many homeless students are there??

There has been a 9 percent increase in homeless students in our Oregon schools, according to a post by OregonLive from October 2015. So what does this mean? It means that in the 2014-2015 school year, Oregon had 20,524 homeless students enrolled in its districts. And this means that a staggering 4% of all students live in an unstable home environment, which ranges from living in a motel to a shelter to a tent.

Obviously, this is a gigantic problem that isn’t getting the public attention it deserves. There is much being done among districts, like the example in the video in Reynold’s Middle School, but is this enough? A recent post on this blog is about the new plan being implemented in the metro-Portland area to combat homelessness. But where is the specific attention to the thousands of children who do not know where their next meal comes from or where they will be sleeping tonight? No wonder Oregon ranks among the lowest in education in the country. Without the proper support, how can we expect children to perform well in school, or even make education a priority?

I do not know what course of action needs to be taken, but with that said, the first step needs to be increasing public awareness. I did not know these statistics before accidentally stumbling upon this article, and I am shocked at how dramatically the numbers have been steadily increasing. It should not be the school’s responsibility to support students and their parents in this way, yet in many cases this is the necessary action that is being taken. Our state government should be held accountable to provide more aid and resources to these families who are trying to establish consistency in their children’s lives.

-Samantha Sidline

How Far Will $30 Million Really Go?

Leaders from Portland, Gresham, and Multnomah County have taken the first steps in combatting the problem of homelessness by signing off on a groundbreaking new plan. The plan was drafted by the city and the city council, later dubbed “A Home for Everyone,” with the goal of reducing the number of homeless by 50 percent. In total, $30 million will be spent by 2019 or at the latest 2020 and will hopefully reduce homelessness in the area by 50 percent. According to the plan, the money will be allocated as such:

$12.5 million to house the homeless

$10 million for the construction of affordable housing

$5 million to improve homeless shelters

$2.5 million to homelessness prevention

As of 2015, a homeless count set up by the city and the county found 3,801 people homeless. Specifically, 1,887 were without shelter, 872 were in emergency shelters, and 1,042 were in transitional housing. Compared to results from 2013, the number of homeless women increased by 15 percent along with a 24 percent increase in homeless families. Furthermore, there was a 48 percent increase in homeless African Americans. Because of this, the plan focuses on alleviating the number of homeless women and minorities by aiming to house 1,350 people and creating 650 new shelter and alternative beds.

This is a huge step forward for Portland, allocating millions of dollars to target a problem that desperately needs the help. Although the results of this groundbreaking plan will not be seen until 2019, in the long run it will revolutionize Portland and surrounding areas. Seeing that the homeless population, especially that of women and minorities, has increased in recent years, the implementation of this plan will hopefully relieve some of the stresses these groups are currently enduring. 

Despite this, the allocation of the $30 million, in my opinion, is not the best. Although the money will make a difference, I think that more should go towards preventing homeless instead of just focusing on those already homeless. If more money was given to prevention, in the long run it would result in less homelessness, which would mean we wouldn't need any more major money plans like this one in the future.

Learn more about the plan here!

-Maddy Zimba