Protests in Portland: How civil unrest affects the unhoused

Photo by Taufiq Klinkenborg from Pexels

Protests in Portland, Oregon, have garnered much media attention, and have been a consistent presence in the city for over two months. Police tactics from the local Bureau as well as Federal agents have sparked both outrage and support, mostly depending on one’s political leanings. People are risking their health and safety to be out in the streets, practicing their First Amendment rights and taking part in civil disobedience in response to police brutality. 

But the people in the streets each night- protestors and police alike- get to go home and wash off the tear gas afterward. What about the people who don’t have a home to go to? 

Portland has a large population of people experiencing homelessness. Around 2000 people were sleeping unsheltered during a 2019 Point in Time count, which was a 20% increase from 2017. The reasons for becoming unhoused are many and varied, but mental health and substance use issues are some of the leading causes. Many shelters are experiencing strain due to the Coronavirus, and service providers have had to curtail or pivot to new forms of care.

Numerous social media reports have highlighted the impact of the protests on people experiencing homelessness. They become caught in the crossfire between the protestors and police. They are forced from their spaces by tear gas clouds and flash-bang grenades, and often don't have a place to clean up if they get doused. This means they have to endure burning eyes and itching skin, ruined clothing and sleeping bags, and improvised first aid. Crowds are out much later than usual, disrupting already volatile schedules. Public bathrooms and handwashing facilities provided for the unhoused have also been destroyed, leading to even worse sanitation conditions. These factors serve to further endanger an already vulnerable population, especially among COVID-19 concerns.

Meeting basic needs is already a struggle to the unhoused. These protests have served to further underscore the gulf in access to care between the housed and those experiencing homelessness. Some groups, such as Cascadia Behavioral Health, have been attempting to mitigate the impact of the protests on these folks by helping them migrate to safer areas in Portland. But at the end of the day, these people are having their already disrupted lives disrupted even further.

Protestors can help by planning marches away from homeless areas, and helping to clean up after rallies. Field medics have been providing care to protestors, including first aid and tear gas mitigation, as well as food and water. Perhaps these medics could also provide care before and after protests to the people experiencing homelessness around the protest sites.

Police can help by disallowing tear gas, flash-bang grenades, noise trucks, and other forms of crowd control which cannot be acutely directed.

Readers here can help by donating to organizations such as Cascadia Behavioral Health.