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

Cold or Crowded?

On cold winter nights, people on the streets often have to choose between battling the freezing temperatures outside, or battling for beds in a crowded warehouse shelter. David Pirtle, a man who became homeless because of his untreated and undiagnosed schizophrenia, was invited to an NPR radio special in 2012 that explored the question: why do some homeless people refuse shelter?

One common reason is the unsanitary and dangerous conditions in some mass shelters. Even Pirtle agreed that there are a number of nice and well run shelters, but when living on the streets, he would hear stories of shelters that had body lice, drug dealers, and people who would steal the tenants' shoes. So during some of the coldest of nights, where he would fear not waking up in the morning, he would still choose the stay on the streets and hope that a hypothermia van would drive by and offer a blanket. “I think people, we're creatures of habit,” he told Ari Shapiro, the radio host of the special. He explained that he would rather deal with the risks he knew about sleeping on the street, than the dangers of a shelter.

People waiting in line for a bed at a homeless
shelter in Los Angeles, California Credit: Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority

He also shed light on the difficulties of rehabilitation from a mass shelter. These shelters sometimes have hundreds of beds, and these are given out on a nightly basis. Pirtle did end up staying at a shelter for a short time, and he discovered the struggles of trying to keep a job and keep a bed. The shelter would open at 7 every night, but people would already be in line for a bed at 4:30 in the afternoon. If Pirtle were to find a job and work regular business hours, he would lose a place to sleep at night.

A solution Pirtle saw to this crisis was to get rid of mass shelters, and create more scattered and smaller shelters. A later caller named John (who wanted to keep his last name private) explained that he had worked in these types of shelters, and had seen some of the horrors Pirtle described. Even the well-run mass shelters soon got too crowded to be a safe place. He agreed that smaller shelters were the solution to this problem. Although smaller shelters may seem like a greater cost, ultimately a center more focused on getting people of the streets permanently and into a more steady housing situation would allow for more quick movement of people through the shelter. Getting people off the streets is less expensive than keeping them there (see our previous blog post: Pendleton and Wheeler: A hope to end Portland’s homelessness), so ultimately these smaller shelters would have a better return on their investment.

-Kendra Jackson

Read the full radio special here: Why Some Homeless Choose The Streets Over Shelters

Harm Reduction

It is proven that putting a person into drug therapy without their consent tends to be ineffective. This is the theory that inspired Harm Reduction methods. Harm Reduction aims to reduce the risks associated with substance abuse for the individual and the community. It does not condemn or promote the behaviors of addicts, but rather Harm Reduction focuses on reducing the risks of these already harmful activities. For example, the program educates people on the dangerous effects of drugs and alcohol. Education on these effects can help reduce overdoses and other harmful consequences that can be caused by drug use. Other types of Harm Reduction include the distribution of safety needles and educating people about safe injection points. It has been shown that needle exchange programs have reduced the sharing of needles among teens.

By using these methods we can help stop the perpetuating cycle of drug usage and prolonged homelessness.  Additionally, we can help troubled youth by giving them a realistic education on drug habits. Instead of demonising drug behaviors, it is possible to help addicts get to the root of the problem. The first step of this theoretical program aimed to help troubled youth is to get teenagers involved. Dedication to the individualized program is arguably the most important step but is often overlooked because of how difficult it is. These youth need a sense of control. It is important for them be a part of the decision making process in the program in order to increase their dedication to creating a better situation for themselves.

There is a step by step guide to help youth in Oregon called the Principles of Effective Intervention which focuses on helping at-risk youth become successful despite their destructive environment. The flaw in this program is that they have no way of getting the youth involved. It is important to increase dedication by guiding each individual to make their own program that will make each individual successful.

-Sammi VanEaton

These two articles go in depth about Harm Reduction programs and the specific effect on youth and homeless individuals:

http://www.democitydrug.org/uploads/safernight/research/Engagement%20as%20an%20ethical%20imperative%20in%20harm%20reduction%20involving%20at-risk%20youth.pdf

http://www.orgcode.com/2011/12/08/harm-reduction-and-the-provision-of-homeless-services-to-youth/

One Mans Trash is Another Mans Treasure

While many people are in support of helping those in need, some citizens in the Portland area are against the idea of opening a camp in their neighborhood. Hazelnut Grove is a new homeless camp that opened up in the Overlook neighborhood. A large amount of support was given to open this camp, but there has also been a negative reaction from the neighbors who have advocated to remove this camp from their neighborhood.

Hazelnut Grove is not the only camp that has been in the media recently. Above is a picture of North Greeley Homeless Camp, which has been a safe place to sleep for many homeless in Portland. Recently, North Greeley experienced a "camp sweep" which consisted of government employees  seizing all the tents, blankets, and supplies that the homeless had kept in the camp. According to Oregons law, these government officials have all rights to confiscate the homeless's things and store them for up to 30 days before they are allowed to get it back. Click here to watch the North Greeley campers property be swept without them knowing!

What I find most interesting about this situation is how the mayor is permitting these camps to take place but at the same time is allowing the homeless's property to be taken at random times. When a law enforcement agency takes the property, it forces the homeless to have to travel through the city, by foot, to retrieve their blankets, tents, carts, and any other material they have to help them get through the cold, rainy weather we have in Portland.

-Mahtaab Sanaee

A Duality

It is known that there are a large number of organizations (both private and public) working tirelessly to remedy the issue of homelessness in the Portland-metro area. At first glance, it may appear as if their efforts have been futile thus far. Just by taking a stroll through Chinatown, one can observe the alarmingly high amount of homeless individuals lining the sidewalks and taking refuge in public parks. Since 2013, however, the once increasing number of homeless individuals has not only ground to a screeching halt, but also began to steadily decrease, according to a study of homelessness trends of the last three years. Granted, the decrease has been less than one percent, but it is a step in the right direction to solve this once worsening problem. It would seem as though the work put in by so many individuals over the years has finally paid off.

This is all well and good until you consider that there has been an explosion in the proportion of homeless families and minorities. Wealthy individuals have found Northeast Portland an attractive place to live and this has caused property values to increase substantially, leading to many of the traditional residents to be priced out of the area. The steep increase in housing prices caused by gentrification combined with the decrease in pay for unskilled laborers (when adjusted for inflation) seems to be the culprit behind this concerning trend. Furthermore, the market for unskilled labor in Oregon has yet to recover from the Great Recession of 2008, adding fuel to the fire that is beginning to consume individuals on the lower steps of the economic-ladder. So before we start patting ourselves on the back, we need to realize that there is still much work to be done and that there is still a difference to be made.

-Matthew Warren Eggiman I

http://www.oregonlive.com/homeless/2015/06/homeless_stats_stay_consistent.html