A Basic Need: Hygiene Access for the Homeless

What The Homeless Need

Some things that the homeless in Portland need are hygienic items and cleanliness. Oftentimes, people who experience homelessness don’t have the access to hygienic items that they may need or access to public restrooms as most buildings don’t let homeless people in to use their restrooms. Since homeless people don’t have access to a home that has all of these things provided, there are shelters, public spaces, and people who provide these necessities to help the people who need them.

Access to Hygiene

According to the Portland.gov website, there are portable toilets across Portland neighborhoods available for people who are experiencing homelessness to help support them in their hygienic needs. This also increases safety in Portland’s neighborhoods. For more information check out the website: Portland.gov

An organization that gives hygienic supplies is Hygiene 4 All. They began in 2018 and on their website, they say “H4A works to ensure our houseless neighbors have an equal voice in creating more equitable access to the basic public resources required for human dignity, including water, sewer, and waste management services.” They are a hub that offers services like hot showers, hygiene supplies, medical supplies, clothing and bedding exchange, etc. Their website: Hygiene 4 All

Cleanliness in Portland

For some background information, according to the Portland.gov website, “The average American produces nearly 5 pounds of trash per day. When people live unsheltered without access to garbage service, that trash becomes visible - and it can become a health risk, too.” This is why cleanliness is important for the people who are homeless as it can become a health risk for them and for the people who come across the trash. 

The Clean Camp PDX is an organization that provides garbage in campsites that include homeless people so they can throw their garbage in the trash cans rather than on the streets. Their site says “Clean Camp PDX proactively provides containers to collect all trash before it piles up.” and “In the fall of 2021 we started expanding Clean Camp to more sites.” Meaning they have been expanding for years now. They always look for new locations to set up cans. If you want to, you can contact them with details. Check out their site here.

Another organization that contributes to Portland’s cleanliness is Clean Start. It was established in 1996 and not only do they contribute to cleanliness, but they also provide employment opportunities to the people suffering from homelessness. On their website, it states, “Clean Start employs both full-time permanent staff and temporary trainees.” The workers clean around the city while earning a decent wage and the organization provides housing, counseling, health care, etc. to their employees who are rising up from homelessness. This opportunity beats two birds with one stone which is a great thing. Check out more of the opportunities they provide and their information here. 

Why This Matters

The overall impact of hygienic needs for the people who experience homelessness is a huge deal in Portland and everywhere else. They don’t have the same basic access as other people who live in stability. Donating to these organizations and volunteering can make a great difference to Portland and the people who need the help. We can spread awareness of the job opportunities that can be provided to the homeless and create better ways to help them. Get in touch with the people willing to help! You can make a difference in our community! 

Other Sources Used

Cleanup and Garbage Removal

Employment for the Unemployed

 

    The courageous act of getting back on your feet is full of many minuit details. For some, it could be mental health management, overcoming drug addiction, or reconnecting with family and community. For others, it could lead to the daunting task of finding employment. Currently, Portland, Oregon has a 3.9% unemployment rate, and it is on the rise since last year. Those who are finding themselves a part of the homeless population are usually experiencing a struggle to keep up with a job, or they are unemployed altogether. This can be daunting, with no streaming income, means little wiggle room for a change in situation. While the steps of changing ones living situation is bound to involve many different hurdles, all pertaining to one's situation, some financial stability is usually included. 

While most of the Portland resources accessible to homeless citizens focus on more urgent needs, food, water, help in mental health crises, etc. Some corporations around the metro area have established connections to jobs and work. Most of the time, this is a partnership between the City of Portland, and non-profit organizations in the area to create work for those who are eligible. G.L.I.T.T.E.R. is an initiative that is peer led, and sponsored by a neighboring non-profit organization, Trash for Peace. The overall focus is on the cleanup of the community, with emphasis on the tent camps around the area. Since its establishment in 2021, GLITTER has hired 43 employees, all on a payroll, with 95% of them currently being homeless. Since their employment, 60% of these employees have gotten off the streets, and are currently housed. Clean Start has a similar structure, with emphasis on trash collection in the rural areas of Portland. Clean Start, while also employing unhoused individuals, offers peer mentoring
, up to 6 months of training, learning job skills to build confidence in the workforce. Most of the employees found new jobs, and homes, while being employed at Clean Start. 

Community Volunteer Corps, which is a part of Central City Concern, offers the same sort of itinerary; with an emphasis on the homeless people affected by addiction. Their focus is on the search for adequate full-time employment, usually in manual labor. With some of the work offered being volunteer work, it also poses as a chance for the homeless to learn adequate skills for working; following directions, time management, and even recommendations. 

The amount of resources offering quick fixes, food, shelter, warmth, etc. is exponentially higher throughout the city of Portland, than more long term solutions like permanent housing, and employment. While taking into consideration the common struggles of the homeless community, including drug addiction and mental health crisis’; which can make it more difficult to secure these necessities, it was surprising to learn the lack of them to begin with. Advocating for the homeless, also means giving them the tools to no longer accept their current situation, while simultaneously creating resources to help the more urgent needs. A more integrated mix of both would help comfort, safety, and give more opportunities for permanent solutions. When it comes to the homeless population, there doesn’t seem to be enough of anything; shelters, good food, clean water, drug intervention, and resources for a more permanent change. Long term differences are made through the enforcement of independence and trust, and offering more jobs to those experiencing homelessness would instill that they are capable individuals. 

https://www.portland.gov/homelessness-impact-reduction/opportunities

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/community-volunteer-corps-homeless-jobs/283-4a8b39df-c952-4c49-a42f-be81e9d19ce1

Brother, Can You Spare a Job?

 

An (Un)Stocked Market

    The job market isn’t exactly brimming with opportunity. It is an obvious statement, but one that isn’t any less serious and important to all of our lives. As many of you who are reading can attest, it seems more and more difficult to find a job than ever (especially good ones, the ones that actually pay somewhat decently, that give you the slightest bit of an illusion that someone at the job cares about you). How quickly decent jobs have disappeared may create the false impression that those of us who are not able to find employment are just not worthy of a decent job. This false idea, that it isn’t the number of jobs that have changed, it’s just that everyone else has gotten so far ahead of you, creates the dangerous catalyst of self-doubt. The less you feel like you deserve good employment, the less you feel compelled to search for it. Unfortunately, this false paradigm can lead to, ironically, many good jobs within an organization or company being shut down, due to an apparent “lack of interest” (well, at least that’s one of the reasons). Hopefully, you’ve already come to the realization in your life that this isn’t correct, that it isn’t your employment skill that’s directly causing the lack of jobs available. You aren’t the sole cause of a widespread problem, but you are most definitely the solution.

The Big Crash

    As is obvious at this point, the apparent lack of jobs isn’t solely dependent on your skill level as a person. There isn’t just a larger number of people employed because of a growing earth population. The reality is that there are actively fewer jobs available (and less access to them for those who are not socially wealthy), than in the past. One article written by The Orgonian2 describes the staggering decline of jobs statewide in the last year alone, “The number of job openings in the state fell by 24% last fall compared to a year earlier. It's the fourth consecutive quarter with such a steep decline”. The amount of available jobs is outright plummeting at a dramatic level. If this were (for the sake of argument, even if not what would really happen) to continue into the next year, almost half of the job market that existed just two years ago would have vanished. While something like this is realistically unlikely to happen, it’s still terrifying to think that almost a quarter of the job market can seemingly evaporate in such a short time.

A Depressing Sight

    If one were to look at the website for the State of Oregon: Blue Book3, specifically their page about employment, they reveal a rise in the need for previous experience, “In 2021 and 2022, around 50% of job openings required previous experience. By 2023, 58% of vacancies required previous job experience.” This shows a somewhat slow but clear attempt at gatekeeping more and more jobs away from a large group of people. Not only are the young adults of the world going to have just a bit more trouble with getting a job than usual, but those who are unable to provide previous job experiences (or the already financially destitute [who may not have the electronic mechanisms nor possession of a paper trail capable of delivering the relevant information]) are on an unfortunate slope towards less and fewer job opportunities, which lead to less job experience, which leads to even less and fewer job opportunities, and so on. This ominous trend tills the path for a hideous negative feedback loop, that if not slowed or challenged, may lead to a tricky situation where the only way to get a job, is to already have a job.

The Great War

    Obviously, we want a way to counter this. Thankfully, there are those who have already helped to start the kindling of an idea. An article on Talk Poverty4 by Zach McDae discusses a number of ways how to create more jobs and help reduce the number of those in financial trouble by creating jobs for them, mostly infrastructure and communal jobs. These types of jobs also have the benefit of helping reduce both the personal financial troubles of such people, and improve the communities we all live in.

If you want to help in the creation of more jobs and help those in desperate need of one, please visit websites like https://worksourceoregon.org/step, and https://oregonworkforcepartnership.org/advocacy/,and give some of your time and support to their organizations, as it’s only when we all choose to fight for our ability to find jobs when we’ll all have the opportunity to keep them.

Resources:

1Image Provided by Image by mramirferdi from Pixabay:

<a href="https://pixabay.com/users/mramirferdi-19455786/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=6034896">mramirferdi</a> from <a href="https://pixabay.com//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=image&utm_content=6034896">Pixabay</a>

2 The Oregonian

https://www.oregonlive.com/business/2024/03/oregon-has-fewer-job-openings-as-labor-market-eases-up.html

3State of Oregon: Blue Book

https://sos.oregon.gov/blue-book/Pages/facts/economy-employment.aspx#:~:text=Oregon%20employers%20reported%2072%2C800%20job,was%2060%2C700%20vacancies%20in%202017.

4 Talk Poverty

https://talkpoverty.org/2014/07/28/three-ways-create-jobs-lower-poverty/index.html