DIRECTOR’S DESK | Criminalizing people for being homeless is cruel and inhumane, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled A lot gets written in a day, and on Tuesday, Sept. 4, Donald Trump managed to punch out 16 wild and furious tweets. But among this frenzy, it’s ...
7 Sep 2018 - Kaia Sand
Mercy Corps Northwest is piloting a program for several Street Roots vendors, matching income they earn with money for housing costs Recently, a Street Roots vendor showed up in our office refreshed. His face looked smoother, more rested, than it had earl ...
24 Aug 2018 - Kaia Sand
In recent weeks, four Street Roots vendors or former vendors have died. We have lit so many candles in our Street Roots office. In recent weeks, four Street Roots vendors or former vendors have died. Andy Howard, Dallas Boyd, Dani Wyatt and David Testawi ...
10 Aug 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
Several Street Roots vendors were at Cityteam, some for shelter and others for an AA meeting, when police shot John Elifritz on April 7 It has been a hard week at Street Roots. A handful of our vendors witnessed the police shooting Saturday night at Cityt ...
13 Apr 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
How do we overturn a sentiment that money gives us worth? There is a woman in Old Town who stores her mound of suitcases under a tarp and stays near it, almost as though she were sitting in a room and the walls themselves fell away. On warmer days, she pa ...
23 Feb 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
Let’s reject the cruelties of historical injustices compounded by present-day injustices In the morning light in Old Town, an elderly woman trudged down a rain-shiny sidewalk on Sixth Avenue, her backpack full and sagging low. It was unclear how much her ...
19 Jan 2018 - Kaia Sand
We'll reject laws that criminalize poverty, focus on actions that can improve lives Here we are at the turn of a new year. Some of us will attend parties with glitter and clinking glasses. Others will hunker in with families around board games or a T ...
29 Dec 2017 - Kaia Sand