Homeless encampments: Difference between revisions
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==== Katie Lindsay, HUCIRP program coordinator ====
In a correspondence with a citizen in December 2020, City of Portland's HUCIRP program coordinator Katie Lindsay (who's also a qualified mental health professional and drug and alcohol counselor)<ref>https://www.streetroots.org/news/2019/03/15/portland-spends-millions-responding-homelessness-researchers-find</ref><ref>https://npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov/registry/provider-view/1568852655</ref> summarized that about 90% of complaints made to HUCIRP are speculative.
"Almost 90% of the complaints our program has received regarding these units are related to stigma connected to the homeless population and complaints about things that ‘could happen,’ but have not happened," Lindsay wrote to the citizen. In a response to a citizen's complaint about the toilet placed near the complainant's house, Lindsay replied "Access to water and appropriate toilet options are recognized by the UN General Assembly as a human right" <ref name="toilet"> https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/2020/12/portable-toilets-in-southeast-portland-stolen-vandalized-in-escalating-fight-between-city-and-neighbors.html</ref> Katie Lindsay's
In a media interview in her professional capacity, she described she's been besieged with angry phone calls about the red toilet.<ref>https://www.streetroots.org/news/2020/11/04/kaia-sand-access-hygiene-sanitation-human-right</ref> So, basically like taking phone calls from people concerned about the impact of homelessness in their personal life and hold similar concerns she relate to when she's not wearing her professional hat. In her personal hat, Katie said: <blockquote>'''''"I've spent a lot of my profession when i worked, umm dealing with transients and I mean we're talking things like petty crime, public intoxication, but those aren't things I want in my community."'''''<ref>https://youtu.be/yeucKkIX5sM?t=4123 (City of Sherwood City Council Testimony June 12, 2013</ref> - Katherine Kalpakis at the June 12, 2013 Sherwood city council session. </blockquote>With regard to homelessness in Portland, Lindsay described the role of HUCIRP as "Our role is not to solve homelessness, but to incrementally improve the experience of those living outdoors and the community at large by providing trash mitigation and sharps disposal services."<ref>https://www.facebook.com/PDXMayorTedWheeler/photos/portlandyou-know-that-our-public-servants-work-around-the-clock-on-your-behalf-b/10158089391008620/</ref> She has also proposed hygiene access for the homeless in Portland in 2017 which came with a price tag of around $159,000.<ref name="pitstop">PDX PitStop proposal https://web.archive.org/web/20171025111008/https://www.portlandmercury.com/images/blogimages/2017/10/19/1508444131-pdxpitstop_proposal.pdf</ref>
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She acknowledged that when she was working at an organization that is the "largest homeless shelter in Portland".(Likely Portland Rescue Mission<ref>https://www.portlandrescuemission.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Prayer-Calendar-August-2012.pdf</ref>), they would suggest their clients who can not enter the program to go camp at Walmart or the airport.
Interestingly, Katie Lindsay (Kalpakis) was a vocal opponent about the presence of such a destination in her own community. She voraciously objected to the Super Walmart's 24 hour parking lot near where she owned a house where she raised her children. She emailed the city council and testified at a Sherwood City Council meeting urging the city to pass an ordinance to ban the 24 hour parking lot at Walmart near her house. She expressed she "spent a lot of time ''<u>dealing with transients</u>'', heavy crime and public intoxication" in her profession and "she does not want this in her community". The store and parking would give the homeless a 24 hour access to restroom and a place where homeless people can rest and sleep in their RVs. Essentially, Katherine Lindsay did not want what she advocates professionally being hosted in her own backyard on what appears to be speculative concerns about foresight of homeless related issues. She felt that the Walmart parking lot is a "responsible thing for Council to prevent."
"Katherine Kalpakis
That article referenced above is likely ''Men on the street'', by Saundra Sorenson, in the January 03 2013 print of TheTimes https://pamplinmedia.com/ttt/89-news/125909-men-on-the-street
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