Rendered statistically invisible and targeted by restrictive laws, those living in cars are the fastest-growing segment of the unhoused US population. Their voices shatter when Sara Kuust and Jake Blackburn talk about Kuust’s miscarriage while residing in a Chevy Blazer. … Continue reading Vehicle Residency: Homelessness We Struggle to Talk About
Graham Pruss On Why More People Are Living In Cars And RVs BY THACHER SCHMID • OCTOBER 2021 By some accounts individuals who reside in vehicles make up the fastest-growing subpopulation of homeless people in the U.S. They occupy an ambiguous public space, … Continue reading Displaced
By Thacher Schmid In recent years, American homelessness has been on the rise again. In 2015, West Coast cities declared homeless “emergencies.” Since 2017, “Point in Time” counts have risen; some measures see unhoused populations at all-time highs. Now, due to Covid-19, the numbers could … Continue reading The Village Alternative: Andrew Heben and Tim McCormick Have a Democratic Solution to Houselessness
On the dark streets of a college town, two teenagers hoisted a rock and ended a man’s life. His loved ones want to know when we’ll finally value the lives of homeless people. Continue reading An American Tragedy: The Colorful Life and Shocking Death of Ovid Neal III
The centres were converted into shelters to help stem COVID-19’s spread, but experts worry they may pose more of a risk. by Thacher Schmid Portland, Oregon – Outside the Oregon Convention Center (OCC) in downtown Portland, Oregon, sits a mobile shower … Continue reading Inside the US’s coronavirus convention-centre homeless shelters
The Montavilla neighborhood is a place just about anybody might want to live in. It has an “almost suburban” feel, a city website notes, but it’s near downtown Portland, with a population that’s more diverse than the city as a … Continue reading In Portland, a neighborhood watch group stirs debate over how to respond to the homeless
Guardian study of two US cities finds crime is likelier to go down than up in neighborhoods that host city-sanctioned encampments They stood in a rainy parking lot under fir trees, 60 homeless men and women, young and old, patient … Continue reading No link between homeless villages and crime rates, Guardian review suggests
It’s a Costly Side Effect of Portland’s Housing Crisis THE HAND SANITIZER-FUELED Bunsen burner was a form of streetwise ingenuity to make MacGyver proud—but it may have cost a life. When the body of Rachael Edwards was found in Oregon … Continue reading As Winter Approaches, the Homeless Are Using Dangerous Methods to Keep Warm
The Strip is gone… The “Strip,” a stretch of North Lombard Street in St. Johns where approximately 20 homeless people lived in a dozen RVs, is gone. In July, WW explored the location, a favorite dumping ground for abandoning RVs … Continue reading As City Officials Tow RVs Off the Portland Streets, People Priced Out of Apartments Wonder Where to Go Now
A lack of data has led to funding cuts for some programs that otherwise might support these individuals, while others — such as OHSU — seek to boost their offerings In her 31 years, Willow Paloma has had many identities: … Continue reading Homelessness Compounds Health Challenges for Transgender Portlanders
In Portland, which prides itself on being a beacon of progressive politics, the practice of using prisoner work crews is painted as a win-win – but that’s not how some see it In many places in the US, the fraught … Continue reading ‘Straight up bullshit’: inmates paid $1 to clear homeless camps they once lived in
Timothy Allen Ferrell is the kind of person officials and advocates argue about. Despite a lifelong history of trauma—born with drugs in his system to a 15-year-old mom, then foster care, heroin and meth use, and drug-related criminal convictions—Ferrell insists … Continue reading Is There an Ethnic Group More Likely to Be Homeless in Portland Than Others?
This city has never before seen so many recreational vehicles parked on its streets. There is a stretch of North Lombard Street called the Strip: a line of 12 RVs parked snout to bumper on the west side of the … Continue reading Portland is Towing Caravans of RVs Off the Streets. Here’s What It’s Like Inside Those Motor Homes.
Homeless people say they must choose between a ticket to ride and eating. So why is the train so crucial? For most Portlanders, high temperatures inspire cold drinks, or a jump in a river. For Nathan Lewallea, who has epilepsy, … Continue reading Why Do Homeless People Ride the MAX Green Line All Day?
One of the faith leaders who has worked closely with the most vulnerable people on the streets has a theory. The paradox jumps out from the latest homelessness numbers released by Multnomah County: The number of people sleeping on the … Continue reading Why Are So Many of the People Sleeping on Downtown Streets So Damaged?
Writing in the Flat Keys: Thacher Schmid's Portfolio 