What happens when a group of people experiencing homelessness and poverty decide to take matters into their own hands and organize to improve their quality of life? Unfortunately, they often are looked upon as a nuisance in the community.
It’s common knowledge that many people on the streets are demonized as lazy and not doing for themselves. We also know that the Portland Business Alliance and The Oregonian editorial board advocate for stricter sidewalk laws, and that law enforcement is forced to act, sweeping camps when they are deemed unruly or where there is open drug use and/or violence.
That’s why I can’t understand why Right 2 Dream Too and other homeless advocates are discredited when they work to reverse the very trends considered to be at the root of the problem.
What makes one homeless organization a success and a group like Right 2 Dream Too a nuisance in the community?
For more than two years, Right 2 Dream Too has worked to give more than 100 individuals and families a safe place to bed down at night. The organization has rules prohibiting any drug use or violence. They have worked with local social-service agencies and government to get people off the streets and into permanent housing. They have participated, like other organizations, in public process, and are respectful to institutions even in the face of those groups trying to discredit and destroy their existence.
In many ways Right 2 Dream Too is not only a response to homelessness itself, it’s a response to the very critics like the Portland Business Alliance and The Oregonian editorial board that have consistently advocated for safer behaviors downtown. Unfortunately, these critics have repeatedly chosen to throw groups like Right 2 Dream Too and many others under the bus due to short-sighted policy strategies that repeatedly fail to come to fruition. The reality is that while many institutions are tired of seeing homeless people downtown and throughout the community, people experiencing homelessness and advocates trying to find solutions are pretty darned tired too.
While it may be hard to believe, we are actually making headway. The latest $1.7 million bump from the city to support targeted outreach for homeless women and people experiencing crisis is one example of taking the bull by the horns and working surgically to deliver outcomes. It’s clear that moving forward we can’t be thinking in terms of us-versus-them, but instead work together to deliver real housing options for people on the streets. We have some real opportunities in the next city and county budget cycles.
Right 2 Dream Too is a no-brainer. The city must work together with Right 2 Dream Too and the business community to find a location for the organization. The group offers real solutions to the illogical reality of homelessness. I don’t personally know where the group should end up permanently, but I do know that they are not going away and deserve a safe place to call home.
When it comes to The Oregonian editorial board, I personally have no qualms with any newspaper determining an editorial stance based upon in-depth reporting and taking everyone’s account into consideration. We just ask that they also take into consideration the complexities and harsh realities of homelessness, and the fact that there is a reason groups like Right 2 Dream Too exist. It’s not because nearly one million people woke up this morning in America wanting to be homeless.
There’s no single strategy or theme to tackle the problem of homelessness. It requires a coordinated effort. We will have to continue to work together across political, economical and ideological philosophies. Being able to offer housing to people suffering from mental health and addiction means working with a broad coalition of individuals and organizations. We can’t do this in a vacuum. No one organization or entity can solve this problem alone.