Humanizing the Unhoused

Often times when we think of change, we think of the big shifts, but if we look closer we can see that big changes are the amalgamation of many little changes. Little things that are radical by virtue of being in opposition to the norm. Going against the grain, so to speak. 

This week I wanted to highlight the work of Leah den Bok, a photographer, who at 14 years old started a project that would come to be known as “Humanizing The Homeless”. She was influenced by the experiences of her mother, Sara Denbok, as a child orphan found injured on the streets of Calcutta who was taken in by Mother Theresa's orphanage until she was adopted. 

Sarah Denbok as a child at Mother Theresa’s orphanage (Denbok family)

She was also inspired by the work of Lee Jefferies, a photographer based in the UK, and started meeting and photographing people experiencing homelessness in Toronto, Ontario. The black and white photographs are accompanied by the conversations they share, and the stories told by people she meets. She eventually published a book called Nowhere to Call Home: Photographs and Stories of the Homeless Volume 1 followed by two more volumes and all of the profits are given to local shelters. 

Nicole from Fredericton and Vinnie from New Brunswick (Leah den Bok)

“With my book, I'm trying to portray two goals,” said the young photographer. “First of which is to shine a spotlight on the plight of homelessness because it is such a big issue in our nation and world right now that's only getting worse. And second, I'd like to humanize homeless people because so often they are seen as subhuman individuals.”

Leslie and his cat, McLovin (Leah den Bok)

It’s easy to walk by people and never know them, know what they value, know where they’re from, and how they came to be where they are now. Sometimes, it’s really just a matter of taking a moment to talk with someone and share some time and space with them to make a difference—no matter how small it may seem.  

 (CBC News)

If you’d like to see more of Leah den Bok’s work for this project check out the Humanizing The Homeless website. 

Developers Discuss Solutions For Downtown Portland Building Vacancies

Nearly three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, at the end of 2022 the vacancy rate for commercial buildings reached 26% which has lead lawmakers, developers, and Portlanders to seek solutions to occupy abandoned properties. These buildings are nearly impossible to miss as they populate nearly every street in the Pearl District, an area that is home to many famous Portland destinations. Often times, many of the buildings are characterized by camps of houseless people right next to it. Mayor Ted Wheeler recognizes that housing scarcity is largely a reason for these vacancies, “We also had a fatal flaw that we didn’t see until the pandemic revealed it. And that was that cities that have housing in their urban core rebounded much, much more quickly than cities that don’t have housing, like us.” Because of this many Portlanders suggest turning these empty buildings into affordable housing.  

    KOIN speaks with four people in the property development industry to discuss possible futures for the city. Developers argue that it is unrealistic to turn vacant buildings into housing as it is too expensive for the city and lacks incentive for companies to invest in. However, that does not mean that Portland is past saving, local governments need to be urgent in their efforts to tackle these vacancies and houselessness to revive the Downtown area to support its residents, businesses, and travelers. Read more below: 

https://www.koin.com/news/special-reports/can-downtown-portland-be-saved-4-portland-developers-have-plans/  

Drug Addiction Recovery vs Law Enforcement

 Oregon lawmakers may reduce funding for addiction services created by Measure 110, the country's first drug decriminalization law. (Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images)

    In 2015, marijuana was legalized for recreational use in the state of Oregon. In 2020, the state voted to enact measure 110, which was intended to "Make screening, health assessment, treatment and recovery services for drug addiction are available to all those who need and want access to those services" (Oregon.gov). This measure was to be funded by millions of dollars in marijuana revenues collected by state taxes. Since 2020, Oregon, and Portland specifically have experienced dramatic rises in homelessness, drug addiction and crime. At the same time, county and state police departments have experiences staffing and funding shortages throughout the entire state. Lawmakers are considering the re-allocation of some of the funds from measure 110 to fund law enforcement. Some believe this will help the current drug and crime crisis, whereas others believe measure 110 still needs "time in order to work".

https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2023/02/09/lawmakers-consider-shifting-some-measure-110-addiction-recovery-money-to-cities-and-counties/

Housing Multnomah Proposes Plan for Sheltering Vunerable

    Housing Multnomah is a joint initiative by Multnomah County and the City of Portland in order to combat the houseless issue in the area. On Friday, February 3rd 2023 Multnomah County chair Jessica Vega Pederson unveiled a new plan, titled Housing Multnomah Now, that would, If the proposal goes through, take three hundred people without a stable place to live and place them in a more secure place of residency. Moving people whose home’s include cars, the side of the road, and tents and tarps, into apartments funded by the initiative. The plan will cost $14 million and take course over a twelve month period.
    The plan is based on one made by members of King County in Washington State that showed success with providing places to live to the unhoused. However there is one major distinction between the two initiatives, that is: where the funds are coming from. The similar initiative in King County had major funding by large companies such as Amazon, Alaska Airlines, and various philanthropic donors. The Housing Multnomah Now plan would instead be funded, if approved, by a portion of Oregon Governor Tina Kotek’s $130 million spending plan to tackle the homeless crisis.





Image source: https://www.multco.us/johs

    This strategy is being proposed by people who have previously helped those in poverty, it’s based on actions that have succeeded in the past, and has a source of funds that has already been set aside for just this type of project . When it comes to fixing one of Oregon’s biggest emergencies, it’s important to take a logical approach with a solid plan. Otherwise you run the risk of throwing money at a problem without any real way to solve it. Housing Multnomah has proven itself in the past and seems to have a strong way to move forward. I encourage those of you who are interested to take a look at the sources below for more information on the proposal and continue to follow the story as it unfolds.

https://www.multco.us/multnomah-county/news/news-release-chair-jessica-vega-pederson-directs-new-funds-and-strategy

https://z100portland.iheart.com/featured/portland-local-news/content/2023-02-03-multnomah-county-launches-homeless-initiative/

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/seattle-launches-emergency-command-center-for-homelessness-with-fed-help/

Aaron Chapman 2/10/2023

Portland’s New Strategy: Housing Multnomah Now

A recently announced plan may be the headway Portland has been looking for with the homelessness crisis. The initiative is called Housing Multnomah Now and is incentivizing landlord’s quickly house hundreds of people who are living unsheltered in Portland, OR. This plan is fast acting and works within a one year time constraint. Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson stated that Portland hopes to combat homelessness by guaranteeing private landlords one year of rent for each houseless person they rent to. This plan utilizes a 14 million dollar fund that will pay hundreds of homeless people’s rent for the one year and the focus is on that timeline with not much on what comes after at the moment.

Tents line both sides of SW 13th Avenue in Portland, shown in this April 4, 2022 file photo. Many campers have stayed in this area because of the close proximity Outside In where they are able to access support services.

Kristyna Wentz-Graff / OPB

In an interview with The Oregonian, Vega Pederson said, “the plan will build off the county’s successful 2022 Move In Multnomah pilot program, which used $4 million to place people into 214 privately owned apartments and houses over the course of four months.” This initiative will begin in downtown Portland, Old Town and the Central Eastside through May, and then the county will work to house people living unsheltered in the Gresham area for the next many months.

The initial goal is to move 300 people within the next few months and will utilize the systems already in place to move these residents.

A Visible Problem Cities Want Invisible

    We’ve all seen them. Beneath highways, on streetsides, between alleys—corners packed with makeshift shelters. It’s a common sight, a reminder that homelessness is very much part of people's reality.

    But once in a while they seem to vanish, only to reappear elsewhere.

    The reason? The city sometimes orders those encampments to be taken down and cleared out, often destroying what belonging and personal space the people living there had.

    As you might imagine, these kinds of raids only serve to shift the problem elsewhere. It’s nothing but a Band-Aid fix. After all, the homeless don’t just disappear when nobody can see them. However, that’s not the only method cities try to use to deal with the problem of homelessness.

    Another anti-homeless tactic cities use is through designs of new architectures. Ranging from making benches impossible to lie down on or putting rocks to discourage camping, these are how they redirect the homeless to places where people can’t see them.

A strangely excessive number of bike racks.

    

    Rather than treating the situation like hiding dust under the carpet, there needs to be another approach to the problem. The solutions should be long term changes at the root—proactive methods rather than reacting. (Learn more)

    Creating affordable housing and providing financial support to at-risk people to prevent homelessness is better than handing out help after someone ends up in the streets. It will remove the need to spend more resources and time on ‘fixing’ a preventable problem. By having a larger safety net, we can hope for a less bleaker world for everyone involved. (Learn more on the effect of criminalization)