The Oregonian recently reported that apartment rentals in Portland shot up 6.1 percent last year according to Axiometrics, a rental industry data firm. The average rent for an apartment in Portland is $1,160. You know what? They’re going to increase even ...
13 Aug 2014 - Israel Bayer
Street Roots vendors work hard in the summer. It’s not easy. Being homeless in the summertime isn’t any fun. Longer periods of daylight are a welcome sign for many Portlanders, but for many people on the streets it can mean going long stretches of time wi ...
10 Jul 2014 - Israel Bayer
Portland is reaching a tipping point. With the decline of affordable housing units around the city due to the increase of rental prices we’re heading into a perfect storm. In fact, some might say the storm has already arrived on our shores. It sure feels ...
1 Jul 2014 - Israel Bayer
The world is a complicated place. Of course, you don’t need me to tell you that. On my way home from work this week I stopped and talked to an elderly woman sleeping on the streets in Old Town. “Besides my aching back all I really need is a long, hot bath ...
5 Jun 2014 - Israel Bayer
Mike has lived a very hard life. Challenges with mental health, addiction and living with Tourette’s syndrome have for years contributed to a life on and off the streets. Mike has been a regular at Street Roots for quite a while now. We’ve both seen each ...
12 May 2014 - Israel Bayer
Did you know Street Roots is working towards going weekly? It’s a big deal. Going weekly will mean stabilizing your neighborhood vendor’s income. It will mean fostering more relationships between people experiencing poverty and the general public. It will ...
12 Apr 2014 - Israel Bayer
New readers often tell me about Street Roots, “I had no idea the content was so good. You’re actually producing real, in-depth journalism.” Why yes — yes we are. Readers then usually follow with, “I wish more people understood the concept and read the new ...
17 Mar 2014 - Israel Bayer
A good friend of mine told me last week that he had read that Utah is ending homelessness. He read it all over the Internet. Oh boy, I thought to myself. After reading more and talking to advocates around the country, it was clear that the public was bein ...
28 Feb 2014 - Israel Bayer
People often ask me, what motivated you to get into this line of work and to be engaged with politics. There’s a lot of different ways I could answer that question. Growing up in rural-industrial America, my first relationship to anything even remotely po ...
5 Feb 2014 - Israel Bayer
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 know ...
16 Jan 2014 - Israel Bayer