Learn from Others Example

 Portland’s houseless population is growing each year due to financial disaster, trauma, abuse, addiction, injury, or illness. I’m sure many of us have walked around or driven through Portland seeing all the tents and small camps set up in places that are deemed unsafe. It’s hard to find a permanent solution to fix houselessness, I’m sure with enough helping hands and some help from the government there’s a possible solution that can be implemented sooner than later. I’ve written many essays on the topic of houselessness and come across some interesting articles and stories. 

The most intriguing one is PUʻUHONUA O WAIʻANAE a houseless community camp on Oahu, Hawaii. I heard about this camp from my older sister when I was in high school, never been to Hawaii before and never experienced its culture. Present-day, I’ve been to Hawaii about 4-5 times and found out how the culture in Hawaii works. The culture in Hawaii is very family orientated thus giving it a different houseless community than Portland would have. The houseless camp in Hawaii is run by a single person who appointed “managers” to help keep everyone accountable and help with community service around the camp. The camp approximately had 250 people living there, these are from single individuals to small families. In order for Portland’s houseless community to change for the better, we can learn from this houseless community and apply it to our own. The link here (-https://www.alohaliveshere.org/about-) will give you more information on PUʻUHONUA O WAIʻANAE if you wanna learn more. 

If we want to get rid of houselessness in Portland we’re gonna need to have a plan and make sure the basic necessities are met. The shelters should have access to water, waste, and sewage at least, make sure the community is safe from common illnesses. Get people off the streets, it’s safer and more organized. Shelters need to be able to survive through each season, we don’t want more people dying where it can be easily avoided with a shelter. With the involvement of the government, we can find empty lots of lands and be able to purchase them and build more houseless communities like the one in Hawaii. It will take time to fundraise the money, if the people in Hawaii can do it, so can we. 

-Brandon Braithwaite