Mayor Pledges to House All
Homeless Veterans and Women
by End of 2015
Help for down-and-out folks in Portland, Oregon, might be
on the way.
OCT 2, 2015
Staff Writer Liz Dwyer has written about race, parenting, and social justice for
several national publications.
Pledge-a
promise
Veteransomeone who
has served in the
military
State of
emergency- A
government can
declare a state
of emergency
during a time of
natural or
human-made
disaster, or
during a period
of civil unrest
Declarationstatement or
pronouncement
Need more proof that Portland, Oregon, is more than a hub
of Portlandia-style, hipsters?
Look no further than the recent
pledge issued by the city’s mayor
to get all homeless women and
veterans off the street by the end
of 2015.
Indeed, in the face of a rising
population of people sleeping in
shelters, in cars, on bus benches, and in doorways, Mayor Charlie
Hales late last week asked the Portland City Council to declare a state
of emergency over the homeless situation. If the declaration is
approved, restrictions on land-use and legal requirements will be
more easily waived, letting the city quickly create new shelters and
affordable housing. No extra funding for homeless services has been
given, however.
There are 3,800 homeless people in Portland, according to a report
from the city based on the most recent official single-night count.
And of those people, 1,800 have no safe place to sleep at night.
Another 12,000 individuals are sleeping “doubled up,” according to
the report—on couches or on the floors of other people.
As a result, Hales pledged “to get all homeless veterans in Portland
and Multnomah County indoors by the end of this year,” and “to open
additional shelter space, in order to ensure that all homeless women
in Portland are also indoors by the end of year,” according to
a statement from his office.
Assault-attack
Vulnerabilityhelplessness
Traumasuffering,
distress
Priority- of
greatest
importance
Chronic-longlasting
The city found that women make up 31 percent of the homeless
population in Portland, a 15 percent increase from 2014. And, nearly
half of them said they had been victims of domestic violence.
Sleeping on the street puts them
at additional risk of assault.
“The additional vulnerability of
women, and specifically women
of color, to violence and severe
trauma once they become
homeless is well documented. It
must be a priority to take action and to work with our health care and
domestic violence system partners to provide women the housing
options and services they need to reverse this trend,” wrote the
report’s authors.
Veterans make up12 percent of the city’s homeless population; in the
United States, vets are just 7 percent of the population. Chronic
homelessness affects 44 percent of the vets in Portland who are
without a permanent home.
Last summer, Hales also backed a plan to construct tiny houses for
the homeless on unused government land. However, in Los Angeles,
which also issued a state-of-emergency declaration last week about
the number of homeless people, officials put a stop to an effort to
provide the small structures to folks who have been sleeping rough.
But it seems Hales hopes to share some of his passion for eliminating
homelessness with his peers. “I will organize a meeting this fall for
the mayors of the major West Coast cities, here in Portland,” he said.
“Affordable housing and homelessness crises will be a priority in that
discussion.”
1. What is the main issue being discussed in this article?
2. What is one solution to this issue that is talked about in this article?
3. In your group, talk about some possible solutions to this issue and list them
here.
4. In your group, discuss some ways you could become civically engaged for
this issue…List those here. (use the back of the paper if needed)