'People need to know that people are on their side' It was a situation that easily could have gone badly. By the time I walked up, a clearly distressed man was sitting on the sidewalk, yelling, while an officer towered over him. Down the block, ...
15 Jun 2018 - Kaia Sand
We need to muster the political power of love Six months have passed since I joined Street Roots as executive director, and I learn each and every day. I will keep sharing what I learn with you, and I am grateful when I hear your stories from street corne ...
1 Jun 2018 - Kaia Sand
We don’t have enough places that very poor people can afford to live There are two women who stay nights in a shelter, and on some warm days spread a blanket on the waterfront like picnickers. One morning I saw one woman helping the other walk with a cane ...
11 May 2018 - Kaia Sand
If plans for a remote homeless shelter materialize, the developer should find a new way to listen to homeless folks about their needs It is a story that has covered yards of newsprint – Wapato jail and its possibility for sheltering people who are homeles ...
27 Apr 2018 - Kaia Sand
Harbor of Hope’s Homer Williams once fought Right 2 Survive Too. Now, he’s proposed a shelter and navigation center near the same site where he had resisted the homeless rest area. Today only pigeons and geese wander among the low puddles of the gravel lo ...
20 Apr 2018 - Kaia Sand
Don’t make life more difficult for people experiencing homelessness: It’s a low bar, but one we often don’t meet Holding out a lime-green lava lamp and a brown belt, a man asked whether Street Roots vendors might be able to use these items he found discar ...
30 Mar 2018 - Kaia Sand
SPARC is working with Multnomah County as part of a nationwide effort to change the conversation about racial disparities and homelessness Why does homelessness affect communities of color at higher rates, and how can we make sure that we respond to homel ...
23 Mar 2018 - Kaia Sand
An emphasis on sweeps is an emphasis on making life more difficult for our neighbors who live outside Mark jotted a letter on a sheet of amber-green colored paper that he tucked into a Street Roots newspaper. He did this over and over, writing letters to ...
9 Mar 2018 - Kaia Sand
Those who have the least are being displaced and forced to downsize – to discard the possessions they hold dear “I can only carry so many backpacks on my back at the same time with my precious items,” Barbara told me. She was tired, upset, exhausted. Stan ...
16 Feb 2018 - Kaia Sand
Tell your representative housing comes first Many of our vendors recently sketched self-portraits with the artist Helen Hill. These drawings adorn a wall of our vendor office, and I see them each day. I love these faces. Kaia Sand is the executive direct ...
9 Feb 2018 - Kaia Sand