By Jason Dailey
The Issue
Access to shelter from the elements is a part of sustaining human life. Despite the fact that we as living beings require a roof and some walls to prevent our deaths, housing is treated as a commodity and a 'hot market' in the modern capitalist system. The commodification of a basic human need has allowed for the unequal exchange and propulsion of certain people to a comfortable life or to outright excess, with some people hoarding hundreds or thousands of homes all across the country while hundreds of thousands go without shelter. Being a home-owner is a foundational step in generating generational wealth, but, until very recently, racist, sexist, and classist laws and loopholes have prevent a permanently exploited underclass from getting in on the market. In Portland and all-across the country, a history of biased housing laws and development has had an impact on both the individual lives of historically oppressed peoples as well as exacerbating the consequences of climate change for entire communities, with BIPOC neighborhoods recording higher temperatures overall. Black, Indigenous, Asian, and Latine people as well as single women, gay and gender-nonconforming people have not had their fair access to housing, which can be seen in the way that non-white, non-cis, non-male people lag behind their white contemporaries in home ownership and capital accumulation. The historical story of racism and systemic oppression, which continues to be written today, is what makes housing a social justice issue.
Climate Change and Houselessness
As climate conditions continue to worsen, and as climate catastrophes become less 'once in a lifetime' and more 'once every year' people without access to shelter are victimized at a much higher rate than others. In 2022, the deaths of multiple unhoused people were reported in cases related to the climate, with people dying from the extreme heat-waves in summer as well as the frigid storms of winter. Despite more than 650,000 people classified as homeless in the United States, there are 1.493 million new homes built every single year. As of 2022, there were over 15 million vacant homes sitting unused across the entire country. The issue with houselessness is not one of supply, there are enough homes and vacant units for every person in the United States to be housed, the problem comes down to the institution of the neoliberal market, how private investors can turn something that is needed for survival into a cash-cow for them and their wealthy friends to milk until it all comes crashing down while the rest of us scavenge for scraps. Every year, new home construction is responsible for releasing over 50 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere. The unfortunate truth is that, the people buying, selling, and hoarding these properties are not the ones who have to deal with the related consequences, it is houseless and poverty stricken communities that are forced to suffer for the hubris of the capitalists.
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Climate Impact of New Home Construction
Source: RMI |
The HelpersHistorically, community led organizations have been the backbone of housing justice and development for time immemorial, and that remains true to this day. In Portland, there are dozens of local organizations, made up of thousands of workers and volunteers that work together and separately from the state and federal governments that strive to end the suffering of the houseless and prevent others from falling into houselessness altogether.
Portland Street Response: Portland Street Response (PSR) is a group of paid employees and volunteers who are trained in de-escalation and mental health emergency response tactics who focus primarily and ensuring the safety, rehabilitation, and integration of Portland's houseless population back into society. The Portland police are infamous for the murder, torture, and imprisonment of Portland's houseless and mentally ill populations, which is a very intersectional group. The PSR has assisted people in obtaining permanent housing, rehabilitation from drug and alcohol addiction, and preventing houseless people from being thrown in prison to be forgotten about. The PSR has also prevented the police from doing several raids and 'sweeps' of houseless encampments, which often times lead to the theft of what little material possessions houseless people have, and the assault of powerless people, both violently and sexually.
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Members of Portland Street Response Distributing Aid
Source: PSU |
The Insight Alliance: The Insight Alliance is a Portland non-profit that works to provide people who have been negatively affected by the carceral system with access to clothing, mental wellness workshops, and job/education training. As of 2023,
over 70% of houseless people have a criminal record, which, along with not having a permanent address, can make finding employment or housing opportunities nearly impossible. The Insight Alliance strives to break this cycle of institutionalization and recidivism.
Hygiene-4-All: Hygiene-4-All (H4A) is a local Portland organization that employs both sheltered and unsheltered people as staff to help provide sanitary goods and services to the houseless population of Portland's eastside. Access to sanitation services like showers, device changing, and menstrual products allows the local houseless population a bit of safety from infection and can help people find employment by being presentable and clean. Access to sanitation services also helps prevent houseless people from being the targets of violence and oppression at the hands of onlookers and
the state. From the H4A website,
"With just two public bathrooms available in the 77 city blocks that make up the Central Eastside, shelters at capacity, and no place to legally dispose of household trash, we knew that private policing would not solve these problems. We argued that these problems were better addressed by creating facilities that would allow those living outside access to safe, clean, and accessible bathrooms, showers, trash disposal, as well as places to sleep.".
Systemic Issues Require Systemic Solutions
The national issue of houselessness is a problem that stems back to the systemically exploitative and violent nature of capitalism. Many people see the vast inequalities and brutalities endured by historically oppressed people and think, 'something in the system must be broken' when, in fact, the violence and oppression that we are witness to everyday is not a broken fixture of neoliberal capitalism, it is a product of it working exactly as intended. The best way to solve the issues I've addressed in this blog is through the nationalization of housing and the tearing of the profit-motive parasite from the back of human rights and needs. Resources that are necessary for the survival of a human being should not be a way for one person to accumulate wealth and power by threatening another with death or perpetual suffering. You can make a difference in this fight by joining class-conscious local and national organizations and parties like the PSL, DSA, People's Housing Project, volunteering with any of the programs I've listed above, or by joining rallies for housing justice whenever and wherever they may happen.
More Articles/Resources
We Could Stop Policing Homelessness and Start Helping-H4A
Black History: Connecting Civil Rights and Housing-Clinch Powell House
Neoliberalism, Climate Change, and Displaced and Homeless Populations: Exploring Interactions Through Case Studies-Bezgrebelna et al., SagePub
The Anti-Racism of Marxism: Past and Present-Vishwas Satgar
