By Danielle Butchee
She found herself with nowhere else to turn.
On the cold pavement outside a shelter for homeless youth in Portland, she spent her nights vulnerable and exposed. It was there, under the harsh fluorescent lights of the city, that a man crept back into her life—an individual who had violated her before. In broad daylight, he reappeared and assaulted her once more, shattering any semblance of safety she had hoped to find.
Court documents reveal a chilling detail: he did not rush away in panic; instead, he strolled away with an unsettling calmness. Though she survived the ordeal, her experience mirrors a grim reality that remains largely hidden: for those unhoused in Portland, the challenge extends far beyond simply lacking a roof over their heads—it is a relentless battle against being perpetually hunted (KPTV, 2024).
A 2023 exposé by KGW painted a stark picture of daily life for unhoused women in Portland, describing it as a continuous struggle for safety and dignity. Many steer clear of shelters due to overcrowding or the lurking threat of violence within. “You don’t sleep,” one woman articulated with a heavy heart. “You doze. One eye open. All the time.” The weight of insecurity looms large, stealing away the comfort of rest and peace (KGW, 2023).
More Than an Isolated Case—It is a Pattern
A national study conducted in 2020 revealed that 1 in 4 homeless young adults reported being coerced into sex. Only 29% of those who experienced such assaults received a medical exam afterward (Santa Maria et al., 2020, p. 2). Many did not want to involve the police, while others believed that no one would care.
In a local study performed in 2020 on women in Portland, it was found that 23.8% of women who had experienced extensive childhood trauma engaged in transactional sex, often as a means of survival. These women were significantly more likely to be victims of recent sexual violence (Menza et al., 2020).
This situation exemplifies structural failure: public policies that criminalize the symptoms of homelessness without addressing the underlying causes, such as trauma, poverty, addiction, and systemic neglect. When access to rape kits, housing, and trauma care is replaced with handcuffs, survivors remain trapped in a cycle of victimization.
Why Should You Care?
This city belongs to us all. Safety should not depend on where you live. Ignoring this issue is more costly than addressing it, as it impacts emergency care, policing, and human lives.
If you believe Portland can be a place where every woman feels safe and valued, you can contribute to that change. The SAVE Fund assists survivors of violence in reclaiming their stability and dignity through emergency financial support.
👉 Click here to contribute and help restore hope, one life at a time.
References
KPTV. (2024, September 5). Man gets 14 years in prison for raping homeless woman in NE Portland. https://www.kptv.com/2024/09/05/man-gets-14-years-prison-raping-homeless-woman-ne-portland/
KGW Staff. (2023, May 15). Being a homeless woman in Portland: A daily fight for protection. KGW. https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/being-homeless-woman-portland-daily-fight-protection/283-1bc014cd-a248-46df-a2bd-2de1b34ada74
Menza, T. W., Lipira, L., Bhattarai, A., Cali-De Leon, V., & Orellana, E. R. (2020). Prevalence and correlates of transactional sex among women of low socioeconomic status in Portland, OR. BMC Women's Health, 20(1), 219. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-020-01088-1
Santa Maria, D., Narendorf, S. C., Ha, Y., Ramaswamy, M., & Padhye, N. S. (2020). Gaps in sexual assault health care among homeless young adults. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 35(23–24), 5760–5782. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260517725730
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