Food Insecurity: Places and Opportunities to Help the Homeless in Need

Why This Matters

Food is a human right and the people who experience housing insecurity and homelessness often can’t get enough food or have access to nutritious food. In Portland, there is a rising homelessness crisis. There are shelters that house homeless people but there are not enough around the city so it causes many of the homeless to sleep on the streets and unfortunately, a lot of them suffer from hunger. 

Now, while there is no precise data as to how many homeless people experience food insecurity, according to the Koin 6 News, in Portland about 11.8% or nearly 77,000 people experience food insecurity. This includes the homeless population in the city. Due to limited income and resources, the homeless are in a situation where there isn’t much access to food. The good thing is, there are shelters and other places that provide food for the homeless. We will dive deep into the resources readily available.

Some Projects in Place

• Transition Projects is a huge provider of shelter services. On the Transitions Project website, it states, “ Our programs provide a safe, temporary home and support services for participants during their transition out of homelessness.” There are many shelters in the Portland area where the project takes place. They provide detailed information about volunteer opportunities in their program. Individuals, groups, businesses, and foundations can get involved and help the homeless community. The biggest help they need in their project is making meals! On their website, you can find information on how to get involved for this position which consists of a small group of volunteers who come together to cook a full meal for the shelter they attend. 

• Another project that may be more accessible to the homeless and to the people who want to help is Potluck In The Park. On their website they say, “Potluck has been serving a free hot meal to anyone in need since 1991. Rain or shine, 52 weeks a year, we are feeding Portland homeless, every Sunday, in our temporary Winter location under the Hawthorne Bridge.” This is a volunteer-driven project that dedicates themselves to feeding the homeless in Portland. It’s a free meal that they provide to the people who need it. 

• There is a newer project called Night Strike. It began in 2023 and they promote themselves as a community that gives opportunities to the homeless in Portland to hang out, enjoy a meal, receive a free haircut or shave, and many more. They meet under the Burnside Bridge every Thursday night and accept donations and volunteers. They want volunteers to take their time and create relationships with the other members and the homeless and provide food and other necessities. 

These are just a few examples of projects that are in place in Portland that are taking in volunteers and have the passion to help feed the homeless. Not only that but some provide other necessities that can greatly benefit the homeless. 

How We Can Help

We can help the homeless by donating to these organizations. We can spread awareness of how huge the issue of food insecurity is. Especially when it comes to the homeless population in Portland. We can get in touch with the projects and organizations that have the passion to help those in need. Volunteering can help tremendously as these places are always looking for people to get involved. By doing these things, we can help the homeless population of Portland. We have the power to help the people in our own community!

Here are the links to the projects above:

Transitions Project: Opportunities for Individuals

Potluck In The Park: Feeding the Homeless

Night Strike: Night Strike

Other Places to Visit:

Feed the Streets: Feed the Streets

Other Sources Used:

Koin 6 News: Food Insecurity in Portland

Electing the Future of the Homeless

 New York City is the city that never sleeps, Portland is where you start to nod off.

How did this happen? 

         Regardless of political stance, decked out in red or blue, it is safe to say that every Portlander can agree that the homeless problem has gotten out of hand, and that something needs to change. 

What are the numbers?

Portland Oregon has a homeless population of 11,000 individuals, a steady increase of 65% since 2015. 25% of them are experiencing chronic homelessness, which is the state of being without housing for more than a year. The group itself is made up of women, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and individuals facing mental health and substance abuse issues. 37.5% of people facing homelessness admit to the abuse of substances, ones with recognizable names like Fentanyl and Methamphetamine.

What are the plans? 

Kamala Harris, the presidential candidate for the Democratic Party, and the current vice president of the United States proposed a solution for the homeless crisis, which she plans to sweep across the nation. Focusing primarily on the ability to secure affordable housing, Harris announced new funding of $5.5 Billion, in order to boost this, while simultaneously building wealth and investing in economic growth and development. The budget is planned to be granted to 1,200 communities throughout the country, with the quintessential message that homeownership is critical in building a future for the individual, obtaining a sense of financial security, and creating jobs. 

The total sum will be split according to need, among grantees all throughout the country. A handful of them include, $1.3 Billion to support the building of more affordable housing, split among 663 grantees, $214 Million to each individual state in order to increase the supply of affordable housing, $455 million to find housing and support for those with HIV/AIDS, and $290 million to address homelessness. 

In Portland Oregon alone, the suspected cost of an adequate dent in the homeless problem is $3 billion dollars.

Since the 1980’s, the United States has implemented the ‘housing first’ approach, which is one that focuses on the roofs over the heads of individuals, before trying to help the addicted, unemployed, and mentally ill. 

Donald Trump, the presidential candidate for the Republican Party in the 2024 Presidential election has a different approach. Instead, Trump has plans to reverse the roles, and adopt a ‘treatment-first’ method, with the argument that  “Our once-great cities have become unlivable, unsanitary nightmares, surrendered to the homeless, the drug-addicted, and the violent and dangerously deranged”. His plan to do this involves large segments of affordable land, transformed into “tent-cities”, and packed with doctors, social workers, drug rehab specialists, and physiatrists. The end goal would be a steady integration back into society once the homeless are well enough to manage. 

While Project 2025 was debunked as a part of Trump’s message in this present election, similar strategies can be found there, with the overarching idea, stated by Ben Carson, the former United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to “end Housing First policies so that the department prioritizes mental health and substance abuse issues before jumping to permanent interventions in homelessness.”  Trumps idea involves the criminalization of homelessness, specifically urban camping, and limit options to either arrest, or treatment and rehabilitation. 

The 2024 Presidential election has sparked the conversation around numerous policies, both offering opposing solutions designed by political opinion. Whether or not you plan to vote red or blue this coming week, or even vote at all; the future of the homeless population will be dependent on who is elected into office. Kamala Harris offers an old solution, proposed with new numbers, while Donald Trump adopts a new approach that has gone untried thus far. Both presidential parties offer different solutions, with a similar end goal. One is a mock-up of plans of the past, while one is new and unconventional. The Democratic and Republican parties both recognize the desperate need for a change, but how we do it is up to us.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/05/07/fact-sheet-vice-president-harris-announces-5-5-billion-to-boost-affordable-housing-invest-in-economic-growth-build-wealth-and-address-homelessness-in-communities-throughout-america/

https://atlantaciviccircle.org/2024/07/10/trump-biden-atlanta-homeless-policy-debate/

https://atlantaciviccircle.org/2024/07/10/trump-biden-atlanta-homeless-policy-debate/

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/agenda47/agenda47-ending-the-nightmare-of-the-homeless-drug-addicts-and-dangerously-deranged

The homeless need our help: Ways to effectively help our communities

 

     Few issues in Oregon are in as greater need of help then homelessness. A report done by Portland State indicates that homelessness has grown 8.5% since 2022. Native Oregonians have all seen the rise of inflation affecting housing, food and insurance costs. It is now harder than ever to afford to live, and we're seeing this firsthand on our streets. Today in this blog, we will dive into the ways we can effectively manage this crisis, and what you can do to help the homeless. 

    We will start by dissecting different resources available to the public. Some of these resources may be familiar, some may not. The idea here is to get these organizations higher on the public radar. Many know that homelessness is a real problem but may not know what to do to help solve it. The goal here is to come up with a plan, and ideally, a solution.

       Non-profits are essential 

    

    If we want to effectively support the homeless population, we need to start now. Non-profits such as Housing Oregon are vital to funding affordable housing. Making donations and becoming a member gives you the power to make real change. This is a company that establishes connections with other companies, votes on policies and has a voice in the community. 

    Organizations like Housing Oregon are a fantastic way to establish change. So, what next? The next organization is fundamental for the homeless to transition out of their previous lives. Transition Projects is a unique and amazing non-profit that puts people into temporary shelters, giving them a good place to sleep while they find a more permanent solution. Supporting a company like this gives people a real chance at life and it also increases their chances of not being homeless again. We don't want to just fight homelessness head on, we also want to make efforts to prevent it further. 

What is the next step? 

    So, we donate to programs to get homeless people back on their feet, now what? Now is when we spread our awareness of programs that transitions people from renting a property, to home ownership. The big picture of helping people is inform the public of programs that fight for the common people. One such company that provides these programs is Portland Community Reinvestment Initiatives (PCRI). This company provides programs such as help with home ownership, asset building and financial education. 

  

    This could mean a real step in the right direction for thousands of people, and fully transition the homeless to a long and comfortable life. Spreading information about such programs could be a big piece to slowing down homelessness and creating a smooth transition for those looking to find somewhere to live. If we donate to our local non-profits and spread awareness of community programs, we can give many people the chance they desperately need.

Make your voice heard, vote!

    Your voice matters, it's time to do your part. Make sure to vote in your local elections and research upcoming measures and policies. Making sure particular measures pass can be the difference the homeless desperately need. Make sure your tax dollars are hard at work doing what you believe is right. 

    Many naysayers would argue that voting to spend more tax dollars on affordable housing would cut money going to other important places. However, the benefits speak for themselves "The high cost can cut public spending in other areas, however. National studies show that permanent supportive housing can also lead to a drop in hospital stays, time in mental health facilities and arrests for recipients." (Zielinski, OPB). 

Let's put this all together

    Now that we have all of the necessary information needed to effectively help our communities, it's time to put it into action:

1. Donate to local non-profits

2. Spread information about transition programs to get the homeless on their feet

3. Support companies like PCRI to give the tools of housing and financial education to people

4. Vote in local elections and vote for measures in support of affordable housing

 

Closing statement

    WE have the power to make a meaningful difference in our communities. Do your part by donating, voting and supporting meaningful programs. If we want to make a dent in the homelessness crisis, we have to start now. If we do not, there may be no end in sight. These people rely on us to do the right thing. 

Cited works and important resources 

Here are some solutions to homelessness in Oregon - OPB

Become a Member – Housing Oregon

Stories of Transition — Transition Projects

Portland State releases 2023 Oregon statewide homelessness report | Portland State University

Homeless Nutrition Education: The Importance of Nutrition for Decisions Making and Health

 

What is nutrition and why do we need it?

Nutrition is about having and maintaining a standard and balanced diet on a daily basis. It is necessary to fuel your body and keep it going every day. Having a good diet will provide you with nutrients to maintain your overall health including energy, brain, skin, muscle, bone, immune system, and blood circulation.  

Two main key nutrients that we have in our food are macronutrients and micronutrients. Energy and essential fatty acids are provided by macronutrients and they help to build and repair muscles and tissues. On the other hand, micronutrients provide minerals and vitamins that are essential for various body functions. 

What foods are healthy to eat?

Most scientists suggest having a diet with plant-based ingredients which are essential for optimal health. Following a plant-based diet not only provides various health benefits, but also helps to lower the risk of having chronic illnesses, heart disease, and cancer. There are some of the plant-based foods that contain the biggest nutrients and stand out from most foods. You can add these healthy foods to your diet and it is also good to consume everyday. Berries, Leaf greens, nuts, fatty fish, and vegetables are the healthy plant-based foods you can eat everyday.

Here are some tips on how to have a healthy eating:

• Eat more fruit and vegetables: They contain a great amount of vitamins and minerals that are essential for our body. Fruits and vegetables will provide you with fiber that are good for digestion and to maintain a healthy weight. Pick and consume fresh fruit and veggies when in season. You can also choose canned options but with less salt and no sugar.

• Eat more whole grains: Eating whole grains will help with heart health and provide fiber. There are tips to eat more whole grains and will be included below.

• Consume less salt or sodium: Having high blood pressure is a result of eating high sodium food. When you can not find the canned fruit/vegetables that say “low sodium”, try to drain the water in the can or rinse your vegetables with clean water. Try to use seasonings for your canned food other than salt.

• Consume less sugar: High sugar food will cause server health problems including obesity and one relating to tooth decay. Avoid eating canned fruit with sugar or syrup. If you can not find canned fruit with "less sugar" or "no sugar", try to rinse off your canned fruit with water.

Basic ways to make healthy food without a kitchen

It is hard sometimes to have a healthy diet, and it depends on what you already have or what you are provided in the food stores. There are some basic ways to make your food healthier and taste even better with little preparation and materials that are easy to find. You need to have a food container that is airtight, a can opener, and the essential utensils including folk, spoon, and knife.  

Here are some simple meal prep ideas that you can do without having a kitchen:

Canned beans soup with chicken broth:

• Mix different canned beans together, mix canned vegetables and chicken to make a soup.

• Add lemon juice, canned corn, tomatoes, and onions. 

• Mix them with the soup and enjoy with corn tortilla or whole bread.

Canned vegetable salad:

• Mix canned beans, corn, and peas together.

• Add a small amount of light salad dressing and enjoy the healthy salad.

• Optional: Add green onion and parsley.

For more healthy meal preps, visit this site: Homeless Nutrition Education Toolkit

The Impact of Mental Health on Homelessness

 

                                        

Mental Health is one of the biggest issues in the United States today, affecting most of the country's population. As inflation has risen over the past years, so has the lack of supply and treatment for individuals who are experiencing homelessness. What makes this issue significant is that, with many struggling with homelessness and barriers to treatment they are stuck remaining in a cycle of being unstable. This blog will explores the different causes of homelessness in Portland, looking for innovative solutions and re-examine the role that mental health have in our community. 

What The Health?

According to a The Oregonian article by Nicole Hayden, 63% of Portlanders reported suffering from mental health issues. Of all the people surveyed: over 65% of people experiencing homelessness suffers from depression and anxiety and stated that mental health have made it difficult to find a house. When they were offered to help with housing however, 75% of people experiencing homelessness were never contact again regarding updates. The stress, hunger and exhaustion of being homeless really worsen the mental health of the individuals and if often mistreated can really impacts another person's life or behaviors. 

As homelessness continues, many people are more against getting help due to the judgement of others or the police brutality occurs when homeless encampments are happening. Honey, a Portlander experiencing homelessness stated that her camp was swept by the city at least 4 times, an encampment resident was shot, another fatally overdosed and so on. As a result this only worsened Honey's mental health and distrust in accepting health from others. 

The Problems Surrounding Homelessness:

As mentioned above, inflation is a clear indicator that homelessness exist. Chronic homelessness is challenging to interrupt because of the way the person think, since homelessness puts you in a state of constant high alert, where you choose "flight, fight or freeze", the brain's fear center is overreactive. This dulls the brain's prefrontal cortex, which regulates critical thinking and emotions, stated by Alex Zielinski in an OPB article "How homelessness in Oregon started, grew and became a statewide crisis". 

Another reason contributes to this is limited housing inventory, as a result landlords are able to keep rents high. We then find a direct correlation between high homelessness rates and high housing rates, among the wealthier cities they are prone to have higher homelessness rates comparing to less wealthier cities. 

What Has Been Done? 

Housing and more importantly case support for financial assistance and helping out with difficult paper work has lead many people from experiencing homelessness to being more content with their lives as a result. With mental health affecting their ability to fill out long and difficult paper work, case managers are there to provide them with the tools and assistance they need in order to obtain shelter. In Honey's word from The Oregonian article, "Not everyone has a case manager, sometimes people just direct you to someone else or tell you to do it yourself, but everyone deserves a case manager, we don't have enough of them". 

Path Home would be the perfect resource for people like Honey who's experiencing homelessness, they offer housing, financial assistance as well as shelter and basic needs that every family need. Path Home also has shelter for families filled with needs as they're searching for a new home, cash allowances every month so they can provide for themselves, case management to deal with difficult housing paperwork and as well as long tem assistance as they transition into their own home. Portland Street Medicine is also good resource for many people experiencing homelessness, they do their best to treat and take care of many unhoused community members who are in need of help. 

As homelessness reduced and many are return with shelter and family in place, we can see expect lower levels of stress and mental health issues declining as a result. Many nonprofits including Portland Street Medicine, Transition Project and Path Home are excellent resources for others to support and stop the rise of homelessness. 

While housing rates are definitely something we can't control, we can lower down homelessness and mental health in the place we need by supporting and helping nonprofit organizations who are providing these powerful resources to people experiencing homelessness and mental health issues. At the end of the day, everyone deserves shelter and a happy family without constant fear of fight or flight. 

Reduce the rates of homelessness and increase more assistance today by donating to 

Path Home:   https://www.path-home.org/

or if you want to check out other resources I'll link below:

             https://www.portlandstreetmedicine.org/ 

            https://www.tprojects.org/

Sources: 

Nicole Hayden, The Oregonian:  https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2022/06/63-of-homeless-portlanders-report-suffering-from-mental-health-issues-and-say-they-need-more-help-false-promises-survey.html

Alex Zielinski, OPB: https://www.opb.org/article/2023/10/09/oregon-homelessness-history-background-housing-solutions/

The Useless Obsession with Arresting the Homeless

Why it Happens

Focusing on the purely logical to start off with, the procedure is simple. On the surface level, arresting homeless people is a (seemingly) effective way to remove them from the streets. It is definitely the fastest solution and by far the easiest. Besides, we already have a lot of prisons built (with plenty more on the way), and a police force just itching for “some real action”, so why not?

However, one would need to be a small child or have a child-like view of the world to think that this is a truly effective, much less sustainable, and even much less ethical, solution.

Why it Doesn't Work

Continuing with the purely logical, the annual expenditure of an individual prisoner in Portland, much less a group of them, easily out ways the annual cost of housing and feeding an individual who isn’t incarcerated. According to a briefing by the Oregon Department of Corrections, the daily cost of an adult in custody is, on average, $173.88. Annually, that would be exactly $63,466.20. Looking around a few sources like sofi.com and portlandrealestate.com, the average annual cost of living in Portland is around $47,779. With the understanding that the leftover $15,687.2 will go towards paying for the prison’s staff and other costs like maintenance, one should wonder why even waste over $15,000 on a process that only services to make the subject of it miserable. Even if that $15,687.20 must be spent, there surely must be a better use of it, one that actually may be of some help to the person subjected to it, and may genuinely help them to avoid this situation in the future, instead of simply punishing them. How is punishment supposed to help a homeless person? A thief could be tough not to steal (although, a kleptomaniac couldn’t be helped through prison time either). A homeless person cannot simply “learn” not to be homeless.

Why We Should Know Better

Now that we can, finally, stop ignoring what should be obvious, it is baffling that one could declare any argument in favor of arresting the homeless in any way ethical. Unfortunately, many “brave” soles have tried. 

“If they had worked harder, they wouldn’t be homeless in the first place. Thus, it's their own fault.”

1. No one, no matter how close to the person, cannot know all the ins and outs of a person’s life. How do we know how hard that person has worked, and how many struggles and obstacles they’ve faced? Does everyone know, much less care about everything you’ve had to go through in life? You’ve likely come across at least somebody who was apathetic toward your hardships and suffering. Do you really want to be that kind of person? Don’t you want to be better than that, happier than that?

2. Let’s say, in a specific example, this was true. Let’s say that, Bob (for example), was unmotivated, uninvolved, and just plain didn’t feel like working at no stinking job! Now, you might think that Bob is lazy, and maybe even that Bob is wasting his life. Would you, at any point in your life, want to punish Bob? Would you feel justified in yelling at Bob, or even tackling him? Does it make sense, for no other reason than Bob being “lazy”, to lock him in your basement, demean him constantly, and feed him poorly prepared food? If not, then why does it make sense for anyone else to do it? If you wouldn’t want to keep Bob as a prisoner, then why do you feel like the police should? Do you feel this way with everyone you meet that you mildly dislike? The old expression “treat others as you’d like them to be treated”, as cliche as it is, goes both ways. If you're fine with not having Bob help you in exchange for you not helping him, then you should be fine with the police not hurting Bob in exchange for you not wanting to be the one to hurt him either.

What We Can Do About It

So, if none of us rational and ethical people of the world should want the police to be our main tool in terms of the homeless, what can be done to udo this egregious error? Aside from the obvious steps of finding the homeless person, or people, someplace to peacefully move to (a subject beyond the scope of this article), there are some personal measures that all of us, yes even you, can take.

One action (a reactionary one, I admit) is to report any abuse or harassment that you, or someone you know and trust, have witnessed. There are multiple ways to do so, one of the more convenient ones being an online police complaint which can be filed at the Portland Oregon Federal Website or the equivalents for your local city. If you or someone you know is undergoing such harassment, websites such as dontcallthepolice.com  can provide sources of support for anyone undergoing this (and many other) situations where police involvement may make the situation worse.

Another, more grand, action one may take is to help the creation of legal measures and laws that help enforce the fair treatment of the homeless. Websites like Oregon Secretary of State go into more detail on how that may be accomplished. While this route is much more proactive, it is also one that requires a larger sense of cooperation amongst a large community, and (as much as we like to believe otherwise) still doesn't 100% prevent this problem, only making the offending cop(s) just a bit more careful how often, and to what extent, they harass and abuse.

Ultimately, the best solution to the problem is some amalgamation of both ideas: taking the individual initiative to report what we see and building the communal desire and expectation of preventing this heinous behavior in the first place. As difficult as this would be, it’s less difficult (hopefully) than watching any more officers get away with treating people like they're some kind of lower beast, especially at our expense.