Homelessness in Portland: A crisis that worsens in the streets of America

They seem to be almost everywhere, in old and new places, ageless. Sleeping on cartons or bare ground, the homeless come together below bridges and trees, their business in plastic bags symbolizing moving lives.

Many have recently arrived on the streets, victims of the same prosperity that has transformed cities on the American west coast. While officials are struggling to respond to this growing crisis, some say things are likely to s & # 39; worse.

Vibrant Portland, the largest city in Oregon, has long attracted many. It is the city of Roses, with a pleasant climate, a rich culture and a progressive thought. It is also an innovation hub, part of the so-called Silicon Forest, and new residents have taken up residence in these post-recession years, attracted by its high-tech companies and their well-paying jobs.

But the manna, unsurprisingly, did not come to everyone.

Increasing demand in an area where housing deals are limited has quickly raised the cost of living, and those who were financially at a loss have lost the capacity they previously had to pay for themselves.

Many have been saved by family and friends, or by government programs and non-profit groups. Others, however, found themselves homeless. The lucky ones found space in public shelters. There are not many in tents and vehicles on the streets anymore.

"Even though the economy has never been so strong," said Democratic mayor Ted Wheeler, "Inequality [is] growth at an alarming rate and the benefits of a [growing] The economy is more and more concentrated between fewer and fewer hands … We have a growing disparity across the United States, and that definitely has an impact on people. "

His city is indeed not alone. Homelessness has increased in other thriving West Coast cities for young and well-trained workers, such as San Francisco and Seattle, where blame has also been largely blamed on rapidly rising costs and evictions.

Accurate numbers are still hard to come by, but 553,742 people were homeless overnight in the United States in 2017, the Housing and Urban Development Department reported the first increase in seven years. (The figure, however, was 13% lower than in 2010.)

Declines in 30 states have been overshadowed by sharp increases elsewhere, with California, Oregon and Washington among the five worst. Los Angeles, where the situation was described as unprecedented, had more than 50,000 homeless people, behind the city of New York, which numbered about 75,000.

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Joseph Gordon, known as Tequila, lives in a homeless camp called Hazelnut Grove since its inception in 2015, when Portland declared the state of emergency for the first time. "It's very scary. [The] The people I've met, "said the 37-year-old," belong to all strata of society. And the homeless population is getting bigger and bigger. "

Multnomah County reported that 4,177 people were homeless one night last year, an increase of 10% from 2015. However, many thought this number was higher. Exposing the tensions, the president of the Portland Police Association said controversially that the city had become "a sump", a comment that the mayor called "ridiculous".

Tequila arrived from Cincinnati, Ohio in 2011 and stated that they had become a transgender man and asked to be referred by this pronoun. They are now homeless after losing the apartment they shared with a former violent partner.

"In the street, you face all kinds of things [like] have to relax with living with rats. You also start to enjoy running water or going to the bathroom whenever you want, "said Tequila. (People generally thought that they were Mexican because of the color of their skin and that their nickname was in reference to Jose Cuervo, the tequila.) mark.)

The autonomous community of small wooden structures adjacent to a highway has more than a dozen residents, half of whom with some kind of income, said Tequila. "If they had access to affordable housing, they would take it."

In Portland, the rent for a one-bed apartment is an average of $ 1,136 (£ 867), which is beyond the reach of people who depend on social security checks, which represents a maximum of 735 dollars locally or a minimum wage of 12 dollars at the hour. . (Officials said that half of the 1,300 units to be created would be reserved for people with extremely low incomes.)

Seniors and minorities have been disproportionately affected, according to a Portland State University study, which says the technology could result in the removal of thousands of low-wage jobs, which would likely make matters worse.

"We have a really unaffordable housing market for people with the lowest incomes," said Shannon Singleton, executive director of Join, a charity that helps homeless people find permanent housing. "There is a real lack of hope, people are struggling to see the possibility of ending homelessness and returning to the country. [market]. "

While some defend Tequila's camp as a model of an alternative, the authorities have stated that this would eventually be the case. No dates have been set yet, but there have been recent problems with nearby neighbors.

Homelessness in Portland and beyond seems to be more visible than ever. Residents are increasingly frustrated by the smell of urine, human excrement and abandoned objects that litter public spaces and sometimes even their own doors. In some places, there is the feeling that it is about a fight being lost.

But it's a crisis that has been going on for a long time. The federal government's restrictions on affordable housing programs and mental health facilities in recent decades have helped to send many of them to the streets of the country, officials and service providers said. not being able to fill the gaps. The current problem of affordability is added to it.

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One of the Australian academics Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, traveled the United States for two weeks last December as part of 39, a mission including visits to Los Angeles and San Francisco. This culminated in a scathing report in which he stated that the American dream was, for many, quickly becoming the American illusion. The Trump administration has strongly criticized his findings.

The future, he warned in an interview, did not look promising. "The policies of the federal government under this administration have been to reduce as much as possible the various housing allowances and I think the worst is probably to come."

The number of homeless people is also increasing in other rich countries, while the most vulnerable are burdened by austerity policies, rising costs and unemployment. But in most parts of Europe, for example, there was still a "robust safety net," said Alston, to help those at risk. "Essentially, if you are in Europe, you have access to necessary health care, psychological and physical rehabilitation … This is in stark contrast to the United States."

Across the country, many say that homeless people are unjustly targeted by the authorities and that they end up being criminalized because of their status when they are charged with offenses such as sleeping on the street , beg and have public urination. In August, a federal court of appeal ruled that no one could be sued for sleeping on the street if there was no available shelter.

In Portland, the police monitoring agency is currently examining the relationship between police and homeless people, many of whom are suffering from substance abuse and mental disorders, after a report suggested they would have accounted for 52% of the arrests recorded last year, while they represented only a tiny fraction of population of about 640 000 inhabitants.

"People are just trying to survive and they can not afford to," said Kimberly McCullough, director of policy at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Oregon. "We are witnessing a crisis in our humanity and the way we are going to treat and help each other."

Tequila, however, was not surprised. "Of course, there are tensions," they said. "If a policeman has a bad day … the easiest target is a homeless person, especially those who are alone."

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Back in Hazelnut Grove, Tequila, who had found a part-time job, was requesting donations of toilet paper, garbage bags and shampoo. They were gathering documents to join a local affordable housing program, but were not expecting to leave the camp any time soon.

"A high number of homeless people is not a good [sign]especially when you are the richest country, "Tequila said. There is very little hope. It is a disastrous situation. "

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