Cost of living, inflation and ongoing pandemic impacts contribute to record levels of poverty "It feels like I’m the string quartet on the Titanic," M. said — referencing the quartet playing as the ship sank — while they cradled two paper grocer ...
17 Aug 2022 - Piper McDaniel
Mayor Ted Wheeler declared a state of emergency July 22 due to the impending danger of extreme heat, but city contractors continued sweeping homeless encampments until at least July 25 at noon While city and county agencies, as well as mutual aid groups, ...
3 Aug 2022 - K. Rambo
“Homelessness is not a political issue. It’s about human lives.” What was once a battered Econo Lodge, a strip of rooms bordering a blacktop asphalt parking lot near downtown Hillsboro, is now a flagship rehousing project offering temporary transitional h ...
3 Aug 2022 - Piper McDaniel
Pandemic-era rent assistance and eviction protections are dwindling. In a state with skyrocketing rent, tenants struggle to keep up. "There's a really wide array of people who end up finding themselves homeless,” Leeor Schweitzer said. Schweitze ...
3 Aug 2022 - Piper McDaniel
Multnomah County tenants' advocacy group seeks to place a ballot measure ensuring the right to legal representation if their landlord tries to evict Courts are evicting Oregonians by the thousands. An untold number more aren't included in offici ...
27 Jul 2022 - Piper McDaniel
Street Services Coordination Center offering fewer shelter referrals as sweeps increase Crystal Kelly has lived in a tent near a bus station in Old Town for months. Homeless for a few years now, she’s been trying, as she puts it, “to get clean, to stay ou ...
20 Jul 2022 - Tyler Walicek and K. Rambo
For many housed people, there is a tendency to conflate unhoused populations with violent crime and danger, but crime rates tell a different story. Editor's note: This story contains graphic descriptions of violence. In May, Willamette Week reported ...
13 Jul 2022 - Piper McDaniel
Unhoused Portlanders swept using the tactic say it undermines safety, stability and human dignity What’s the difference between moving with one hour’s notice and 72 hours’ notice? “A lot,” DJ Husar, Street Roots vendor, said. The city swept Husar, an unho ...
6 Jul 2022 - K. Rambo
Street Roots maintains an internal set of criteria and considerations regarding interview practices for unhoused Portlanders. Compassion and consent lead the way. Street Roots often receives praise from readers for including the triumphs, concerns and exp ...
6 Jul 2022 - SR editorial board
In the Lents neighborhood of Portland, Oregon, residents gathered at a public forum last June to voice their concerns about the city’s growing population of homeless individuals. Over the last decade, rent grew twice as fast in Portland as the rest of the ...
29 Jun 2022 - Melissa Lewis