Fire Safety & Homelessness

Problem: You live outside, off the grid, in a self made or tent dwelling made of flammable materials. When it gets cold, you have little to no way to maintain your own temperature.

Solution: Start a fire using improvised materials in an enclosed space. 

Feb 10th 2022. A smoldering tent near the inoperative "Car Wash" fountain 

    Whether it is warm or cold most people that sleep in tents have limited options when it comes to heating themselves.  Homeless people have to get creative because they don’t have access to electricity. Additionally their access to stoves and or any sort of safe kitchen equipment is extremely limited. Devices like open cans of hand sanitizer that are lit on fire, homemade candles with cardboard wicks, and propane heaters are common place if not necessary. These devices are especially unfortunate because homeless people are frequently disabled or sleeping in conditions that are not optimal for fire safety, such as clutter, or holding tarp materials very close to the flame to create a better insulated bubble. Some people are wrapping themselves and their pets in a tarp inside of a tent and placing candles next to them. As a homeless gentleman quoted in the Portland Mercury put it, “in here, every damn thing’s flammable”.

  There are little known dangers to certain methods as well, for instance, propane tanks release the propane into the air when they get too warm and in a closed even slightly insulated space they can begin to release propane in a gaseous state into the atmosphere. Obviously this can read to a chain reaction, and if the person using the tank has any sort of open flame or spark it can literally cause their dwelling to explode. A not insignificant issue is carbon monoxide poisoning, because it’s a colourless odourless gas that can build up in enclosed spaces like tents and cause a slow death, frequently while the victim is sleeping. Carbon monoxide is released from the burning of most combustible materials such as propane, kerosine, and traditional fires. 

    I’m sure if you’ve walked to Portland on a regular basis you’ve seen many campfires and small fires left on the street. I’ve certainly seen multiple tent fires from my window, and couple from the ground level, it’s a raging inferno of plastic and black smoke. The only upside that I can imagine, is that if your tent is on fire hopefully the door melts fast enough for you to get out; however, as you might know melting plastic turns into a sticky, extra flammable liquid. In the end, the reality of freezing to death is a real issue and even being constantly cold leads to worse health outcomes for things like the immune system, wound healing, and mental health. The alternative of the heater, is to use drugs that numb the body to the temperature outside like heavy drinking or heroin. These are far from solutions however as many people die when their body’s heating system is made less effective by a depressant drug. 

    Fires in the city are expensive. If it gets out of control, damage to property can balloon extremely quickly in price. Between 2016 and 2017 (before the pandemic even) there were 218 homeless related fires that cost $1.39 million dollars worth of fire damage in the area around the Springwater corridor in Southeast Portland alone. A large part of it was because of a dumpster fire that spread to the building for the International School in Portland. 

    I think this is one case where you could try to blame homeless people, but their survival ends up becoming an externality to the lives of everyone else. Here there’s a clear discrepancy between the conditions that we are willing to let people live in and the damage that they are forced to inflict to be able be able to ensure their basic survival. Not every fire catches a tent on fire, but it truly only takes one bad one for things to get tragic. This is of course yet another conflict between personal liberty and Public Safety that tends to characterize American life. 

    The current solution the city has proposed is warming shelters, and while these are effective they suffer from the same issue as normal shelters in that they won’t cover the Service resistant. One proposal is constructing and making public the information behind safer heating devices ones that separate their fuel from their flame and can fall over or be bumped essentially anything that’s not an open flame. One such type of heater is the classic ceramic flower pot heater off and with a candle under it or in the linked article with an alcohol fed fuel source. The alcohol fuel source is key to preventing carbon monoxide buildup in an enclosed space. While Oregon has always been regarded as a generally temperate climate going forward with climate change is likely a bit more extreme weather will become more prevalent if you want to avoid public liability in the form of these tent fires we have to find a solution to homeless people shivering in their tents. As of July of last year city Council banned homeless encampments in high-risk areas to prevent wildfires. This is a preventative measure but does not exactly solve the overall issue. I think we can expect to continue seeing this issue more in the future until solutions can become more widespread.

-BD

DIY Tent-Safe heater

CBS article about high risk zones

Portland Mercury article

A True Story.

Finding solutions to complicated problems like homelessness is not impossible. Everyone in society, from householders to healthcare professionals to wealthy business owners, to political leaders, will have to get involved to make an impact according to Finland's “Housing First” approach.

Why is dealing with homelessness a community and social problem? Because it stems from a variety of underlying economic and social issues including poverty, lack of affordable housing, lack of proper mental health support, drug addiction, and abuse.  

A true story that took place in early November of 2018 in SE Portland.

I was taking my friend home who had just come to my house for a relaxing meditative rest session on my healing amethyst crystal Biomat. When she finished her session, I drove her home across the river to NW Portland. 

When I pulled into my driveway in SE around 7 pm after dropping my friend off, I noticed a local homeless man resting himself and his bike against a tree in my yard. I knew this man. My boyfriend and I had offered him cigarettes when he asked, and we gave him fresh fruit and water over the past year. He was generally pleasant and quiet. He didn’t speak English well. Everyone in the neighborhood knew him. Even the local restaurant next door would offer him food whenever he passed.

I got out of my car and walked from my driveway to the sidewalk that linked to the front steps of my house. To get inside, I had to walk past our homeless friend and so decided to say hello.

Immediately upon seeing his eyes, I knew something was off, but it was too late to drop the gaze. He was standing between me and my front door and had dropped a Sapporo beer can on the ground. He looked very disturbed, so I attempted to diffuse the moment by asking him how his day was and if he needed some help. I did my best to make my way around him. He mumbled something. I asked him to repeat, and he did, but I didn't understand him. I was scared and knew I needed to be skillful because he was not in a good mental space this evening. I couldn't get past him without turning my back, but I was playing it cool. I had worked with mentally unwell people in a state home.

At a certain point, I decided to go towards my front door. I said, “I’m sorry, I can’t understand you. I hope you have a good night,” and I skillfully booked it towards my porch. I kept one eye looking over my shoulder. On the third step, I saw him swing from the corner of my eye, and, all of sudden I felt the impact of a blunt object hit my left tricep. Life was in slow motion. I looked at my door and I thought “I hope it’s unlocked” and, luckily it was. Usually, it was not. I got into the house and locked the door quickly behind me. The door had a wooden frame, and the rest was stained glass, an accent the homeowner wanted in the front door to increase the light in the house.

It was so surreal, like right out of a movie. It all happened so fast. I locked the door, screamed for my boyfriend, and looked at Mary Jane, a 75-year-old Canadian woman staying with us as our guest, as I watched the homeless man run up onto the porch and whack the glass. He hit our front door with the same metal pipe he hit me with, and the glass of our front door cracked from top to bottom like a spider web.

There we all were, three of us on one side of the glass and, on the other side, an angry homeless man. For some reason, he decided to walk away. If he had struck the door one more time, he would have been able to walk right into our house. Thank goodness that was not the case. However, he did continue down the neighborhood, smashing our neighbor's cars and car windows.

When the police officer arrived, he had already done damage throughout the neighborhood, and when the young officer tried to detain him, the officer was struck in the temple across the skull with the metal pipe. I thanked the officer later because he didn’t pull a firearm out on the man. The young officer instead detained the mentally unwell homeless man by himself using old-fashioned brute arm strength, with a cracked skull and blood dripping down his face. 

Of course, 36-year-old Tesgay Abraha, went into police custody that night. The police wanted me to press charges and the press and news stations were vicious enough to attack me for a juicy story. Some news stations still dramatized the headlines using terms like “attempted aggravated murder.” They wanted a fear-based story and were expecting me to thrash Abraha on local TV and act like an ordinary victim, who was in fear. However, I refused to do this for many reasons. 

First and foremost the man was clearly mentally unwell. He was sleeping in the streets, it was bitter cold, and he was unmedicated. The reporters were baffled and wondered why I wasn’t angrier and most importantly why I was showing this man who just assaulted me, compassion. 

My response was simple. He is a human being just like me. However, I have a home to go home to that protects me from the elements every day. A place where I feel safe, I can shower, have warmth, make food, call a loved one and share my life to help ease the burdens of carrying the weights of life on my own.

If anyone has ever tried not eating or drinking for 24 hours, they would know how irritated the mind gets without sustenance. I have done this before at a yoga retreat. It was amazing to watch the body and mind respond and experience the sensitivities and cravings that arise. I can’t imagine going on for days like that. Then add the cold temperatures, freezing rain, nowhere to wash, lack of hygiene, smelling like urine, sleeping under bushes or on cement sidewalks, fear of being stolen from, robbed, or beaten, and repeat daily.

Nine times out of ten this man was not a threat in our neighborhood. I couldn’t help but feel bad for him and wished we had more support for those on the streets and particularly for those with mental illnesses. Instead of thrashing Abraha, I thrashed The Man and The System. I told every reporter that this incident was a reflection of our values as a society, as people, and a lack of dedicated support and care from our government systems. So many people threw hatred at this man without ever meeting him in person. 

The point of sharing this story is to show how being without a home and proper support can endanger the community and the well-being of homeless people who are mentally unwell and uncared for. The justice system wanted to treat Abraha like a complete criminal because he had thrashed a police officer over the head. Angry citizens on FB thought  ‘the Officer should have shot him in the face.” Threads of hate speech flooded social media.

I saw a man who was sick, who had been bereft of the proper resources he needed to cognitively function as a human being, and who lashed out in fear and hopelessness. He needed help and a place he could have proper mental care and wouldn’t be an endangerment to others or himself.

I did not press charges. However, I was still subpoenaed to appear in front of a grand jury to make a statement because Abraha had hit a police officer. With the help of my testimony, Abraha was taken to a mental health hospital for further care and evaluation and not to jail. When I saw him again the following year, at the next court hearing, he looked well and very alert. Abraha remained in the state’s mental health system for roughly a year and a half, maybe two years. I got a letter saying he was  released, and I wondered what kind of support systems he would have after being let go.

Would he have access to housing? Would he be homeless again? Would he continue to have access to counselors and medication? I also wondered about the levels of care in the custody of the state. Yet at least there he had a roof over his head, food to eat, and trained staff to support him. Will he end up a repeat offender? The system statistics say more than likely. Why? Because once they are released there are no housing projects or infrastructures in place to provide a place of stability to support basic needs or care for their mental illnesses. In this way, a vicious cycle perpetuates and the root of the issue is left unresolved and they eventually become a part of the criminal justice system. 

Homelessness will not be solved with housing alone. It is a complex matter that needs the expertise and insight of local community members, business owners, NGOs, political leaders, policymakers, health care professionals, drug counselors, volunteers, and caring skilled citizens to come together and make a plan. The combined effort has made other homeless coalitions in other parts of the world succeed in the long term. It will take great skill to change the minds of those who show no mercy for those facing these extreme life challenges.

A.Russell

Read More:

Finland’s Zero Homeless Strategy: Lessons from a Success Story “Housing First” an approach was a well resourced national strategy driven by a team effort in the recovery crisis.

City Portland Get Involved, Homeless Resources:

Homeless Toolkit, City Of Portland 

Homeless Toolkit, Stats, City of Portland 

Blanchet House Portland Ways To Help

Resources:

Man faces attempted aggravated murder, accused of fracturing Portland officer's skull

Facebook Fox12 Oregon 

Extended Stay Hotels and Motels- Why Are They Important to Solving Our Homelessness Crisis?

Extended stay hotels once made up a significant portion of the last level before being on the streets for a large portion of the United States. In the seventies and eighties, these started being phased out as cities decided that they attracted those that the government viewed as undesirable, and who brought down the value of a neighborhood. While these hotels were definitely not the nicest of places, and they did come with some worries of crime, they could be made fairly safe places, and as an area of last resort before living on the streets, they were incredibly important. 

Today we are starting to see these extended stay hotels pop up again, and they are drastically needed. As our housing shortage continues to exacerbate, and as our entry level rental prices drastically increase, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep people at the end of their rope from having to resort to the streets. Extended stay hotels give us a resource to get people into housing, and help pull themselves out of homelessness, if you see one going up in your city, this may be one reason to help encourage it.

NPR- Extended Stay Hotels, Why We Need Them

-KA

Master Leasing Programs

One question you might ask about the first step of leaving homelessness, is how do you even begin to get a home?

If you don't have the provable income, references, credit history, or general organization, you really can't even start, if you want to play the game that everyone else is playing. It's hard enough for most people to really move into a new place, so what can be done to assist those who could obtain a residence, but face hurdles? Is there any way that those with resources could integrate homeless people into the existing market, if it's going to cost them anyway?

Master Leasing, a (somewhat awkwardly named) legal landlord-tenant-nonprofit contract, was made popular by the program Pathways to Housing, pioneered in San Francisco during the late 90's. While there are examples of great success, many such programs have received criticism in terms of the conditions that they’re able to guarantee for their clients, reports of poor living conditions are notorious. 

JOIN, a Portland based nonprofit group, started in 2015. It handles the logistics that almost people can’t in terms of renting property such as that credit score negative pain mystery or criminal charges. It's not the first, but nonprofit groups acting as landlords aren't especially common.

In Portland, many existing homeless provider organizations such as Central City Concern are worried about the legal responsibilities of becoming a landlord under these circumstances. It’s a lot of liability for the organization to take on. Subsidizing the rent is relatively straightforward, and is related to however the group gets its funding. It's usually a combination of public and private money from grants and fundraisers. It gets more complicated when things like legal battles and tenant liability come into play. If the neighborhood tries to fight the landlord nonprofit, it can quickly drain what precious funding exists, and nightmare situations like the collapse due to bankruptcy proceedings of the Direct Access to Housing organization in NY during 1992, where the individuals they housed got evicted suddenly and en-mass. 

This should be a tool rather than a solution in itself, while it makes the landlords and the tenants happy (a rare scenario), it is part of housing first approaches, which can mean it will save money in the long run but may implode a nonprofit organization during a legal crisis. It doesn't do much to solve the supply of housing overall, but it is a humanistic solution that prioritizes reducing human misery.

https://www.opb.org/article/2022/05/21/portland-homeless-housing-nonprofit-organizations-homelessness-services/

-BD

Are you M.A.D? Making a Difference

 

                                                                

Today I had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with Ozzie George, who is the founder of M.A.D PDX. He is an impressive 29-year-old, who is a father to two daughters and one son. He is currently attending Clark college where he is majoring in business administration. He has always had a passion for helping others and created M.A.D for that exact reason. He chooses to focus on assistance for single-parent households, clothing and food for houseless veterans and funding for college students because of his personal experience in the matters. He was raised in a single-parent household where he was 1 of 12 children. He has experienced houselessness on more than one occasion and created M.A.D for the sole purpose of showing people that circumstances can change with hard work and dedication. Ozzie George ended our impromptu interview by stating, "You may be in an unfair situation or in a bad spot in life, but the M.A.D organization is here to help assist you on your personal journey". 

 M.A.D PDX, aka (Making a Difference) is a non-profit organization that provides services to local at-risk youth and houseless folks throughout the Portland area. M.A.D PDX strives to be a difference in the community. The organization focuses on finding assistance options for the less fortunate and they believe that everyone needs someone, making it their mission to be the someone that our community can depend on. Everyone is welcome in M.A.D. PDX, they are looking to extend a warm welcome to any and everyone in the Portland area to come out and support their organization in its efforts to make a difference in people's lives. M.A.D is an organization that is completely funded by the community and they can only help as much as the community chooses to help. The focuses for the next year of M.A.D PDX are assistance for single-parent households, where M.A.D offers assistance such as children's clothes, diapers, wipes, food vouchers, and much more. Providing clothing and food for homeless veterans, where M.A.D takes donations year round from the PNW community and offers them to those in need. They also host events throughout the year and offer a variety of things such as food, water, clothes, and hygiene products. And lastly funding for college students, where M.A.D PDX offers $100 visa gift cards to college students who volunteer their time at any of our events. 

If you are looking to get involved and donate your time towards M.A.D PDX's mission of helping our youth in need, their next fundraiser titled "Back to School" is on Saturday, August 20th, 2022 at Downs Neighborhood Park. The location is 3217 NE 62nd Avenue, Vancouver, WA 98661. The fundraiser goes from 3:00-6:00 pm. There will be a special guest, magic shows, face paintings, backpacks, school supplies, a bouncy house, and more. M.A.D PDX is partnering with 2G3THER Foundation, another local nonprofit organization in Vancouver, Washington, that is helping youth, houseless folks, and families. If you are interested in volunteering please reach out to Ozzie George through his contact information below. 

M.A.D PDX
ozziegeorge34@gmail.com
madpdx20@gmail.com
503-998-7596

Facebook: Madpdx 
Instagram: Madpdx503

 

-Frank Garcia

'How can I get involved?' Here's how...

                            Drive Portland

Have you ever thought about how you could help those in need within your community? Like many of us in Portland, Oregon, I am sure the answer is yes. The thought of wanting to do more within our community is extremely prevalent but many of us are unsure of where to start. We may have been discouraged by others at some point in our lives, even to the point to which people have told us that our ideas would never work, which may have discouraged us from attempting to try something new. While I have experienced this many times in my life I have not let it completely discourage me from brainstorming and thinking of ways to help those in need, and this is where I developed the concept for "Drive Portland". 

"Drive Portland" is a volunteer program that I have started in Portland, Oregon, where people who have a driver's license, are 18 years of age or older, and have access to a car can provide rides to our houseless neighbors. If the image above looks familiar it may be because you recognize it from your local new seasons market bulletin board. I have begun scouting and promoting the service locally looking for volunteers to help provide rides to our houseless community. The rides that we provide are to and from appointments to enroll in government-funded programs like healthcare, food stamps, and cash assistance programs. 

If you are interested in volunteering or have any additional questions please click the link below and I will get back to you within 1-2 business days. 

-Frank Garcia

 

Carry It Forward - carryitforward.net – a Eugene, OR based non-profit that provides workforce development and housing for the unhoused.

We take so many things for granted when we are housed.

Think about the personal routine you follow to get ready for work each day. You wake, shower, put on clean clothes, eat breakfast (or not), brush your teeth and head out the door. However, if you are homeless, where do you shower? And what about having clean clothes? And breakfast? Brushing your teeth? Lack of housing has a dramatic negative impact on one’s ability to function as a contributing member of society in ways many of us take for granted.

Carry It Forward is a Lane County nonprofit organization dedicated to attacking the root causes that create homelessness. The idea for the organization was started during an ice storm in 2015.  Founding members put out a call on Facebook for community donations to help those in imminent need.  After posting about the experience, donations continued to flow in, and the organization was born.  Service has now expanded from clothing distribution to include:  24/7 shelter services, a tiny home construction initiative, an RV renovation program, and a workforce development program. 

The workforce development program is innovative in that it is based on a three-tiered model of scaffolded support.  Client start in SPOT (Shelter Prioritizing Onward Traction) which focuses on basic stabilization.  Once stabilized, clients can enter PAVE (Personally Assisted Vocational Engagement).  PAVE helps clients to set vocational goals, and offers stipend volunteer work, providing a chance for clients to demonstrate consistency.  Once this is accomplished, clients are eligible for STAR (Support Training Achieve Recruitment).  STAR training can lead directly to full-time employment eligibility.  Clients receive training in first aid/CPR, Narcan administration, harm reduction and de-escalation, peer support, and trauma informed care.  Additionally, clients can enroll in micro apprenticeships where they gain valuable construction skill building tiny home units.  Employing people with lived experience helps the organization connect with those most in need in an impactful way. Learn more about the agency by watching this video.

 

https://youtu.be/SBc3ou1kIGM

 

Carry it Forward is providing value to Lane County clients by providing short-term housing, and a tiered support structure for workforce development.  This enables those with lived experience to move forward in their own lives, while also giving back to others in need. To see their spot shelters being built and learn more about the process, please view this video.

 

https://youtu.be/D3Z64PVIGzI

 

To learn more about Carry It Forward, please visit their website carryitforward.net.

@carryitforward #carryitforward #psu #ecopol #endhomelessness #affordablehousing #eugene #lanecounty

~ Laurie Inglish

 

 

Central City Concern - centralcityconcern.org – a Portland, OR non-profit dedicated to supporting the unhoused.

If you are a frequent reader of this blog, you may have had the opportunity to watch a video about Walt. A person who successfully transitioned from being unhoused to housed. In the video, Walt credits finding a job as the main reason he was able to obtain housing. You may think it would be easy to find a job in this market, where employers are understaffed and paying more per hour to attract talent than they did pre-COVID. Well, pre or post COVID, finding a job when you are homeless is challenging. Fortunately, there are nonprofit agencies in Oregon that offer programs to help the unhoused find employment. Central City Concern (CCC) is a Portland based nonprofit that helps people “find home, regain health, and move toward long-term stability and success.” Providing job search assistance and training programs is a key focus for this agency. CCC offers free job counseling, resume assistance, workshops, and access to computers, copiers, phone/voicemail, and fax services. Their programs are nationally recognized and help to reduce barriers to securing permanent, sustainable employment. Through their Employment Access and Blackburn Centers, CCC provides clients with job readiness training, coaching, skills workshops, interview workshops, vocational and computer training, transportation assistance, and help with cover letter and resume writing. And, when it is time for an interview, their clients can select an outfit from the clothing closet!

One of the great things about this agency is their connection to employers. Since 1992, they have been helping companies hire talented and qualified employees who are ready to work. Employers can partner with the Employment Access Center free of charge. They appreciate the hiring support the agency provides, particularly during seasonal or busy periods. CCC’s housing program also contributes greatly to helping people obtain employment.  Their Housing is Health initiative offers over 2,100 housing units in partnership with local hospitals and health systems.  Clients are allowed to pick from several housing options based upon their situation: low-barrier, substance-free recovery, mental health challenges, hospitalization recovery, recently reunited families, or newly employed moving toward self-sufficiency.

But CCC does even more!  They provide clients with a vast array of information and resources focused on two additional areas: healthcare, and substance abuse recovery. As a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), they provide services at multiple locations, addressing both physical and mental health needs. They also offer recovery services on both an inpatient and outpatient basis. Review the following KGW News video to learn more about their programs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN4CsA4yu68

As they state on their website, “CCC’s approach addresses both the systemic drivers of homelessness and the individual factors that reinforce it.”  CCC offers a unique and critical wraparound service to the unhoused population and community at large through job training and partnership with local employers, complemented by their health and recovery services. The following video highlights their Clean Start program.   

https://youtu.be/7onLaTD8zKM

 To learn more about Central City Concern, please visit their website https://centralcityconcern.org/

@cccportland #centralcityconcern #psu #ecopol #affordablehousing #portland #pdx

~ Laurie Inglish

Tobacco Use Within Homeless Populations is a Serious Problem

Cigarette smoking is a major health detriment to anyone, but among homeless populations, it is also the most common cause of mortality.  Addiction is a behemoth problem when trying to get people off the streets and into housing, drugs and alcohol being the culprits that are commonly identified, however tobacco use is also very dangerous and nearly ubiquitous.  

 

 

 Photo Credit: Kat, Northern Lights Man

It is well known that cigarettes are incredibly harmful to one's health, but this impact can be exacerbated by situations in which one is under large amounts of stress on a consistent basis.  Several pilot projects have found that it is possible to treat nicotine addiction in homeless populations.  Improving the health of homeless people might aid them in being able to improve their lives in other ways as well. 

 

Smoking Among Chronically Homeless Adults: Prevalence and Correlates

 

Smoking Cessation in a Homeless Population

 

Smoking Cessation in Homeless Populations: A Pilot Clinical Trial

 

Tobacco Use Among Homeless People - Addressing the Neglected Addiction