Portland village network
gathering various proposals and projects, past and present, to create a network of village shelter/housing sites in Portland, Oregon, for the unhoused.
topic hashtag: #pdxvillagenetwork
Latest notes / media
10 June 2020
a flyer dated 6/10/2020 and spotted today, from the Overlook Action Alliance (www.overlookactionalliance.org, domain registered 6/8/2020):
"We have banded together and petitioned the Overlook Neighborhood Association to hold an emergency cote on June 10th, at 6pm via Zoom call, to take immediate action anddemand that the City of Portland clean up the neighborhood. In voting YES, we call upon the CIty Cuuncil, which has the financial means and executive power to solve this humanitarian crisis, to get serious about providing humane supportive housing immediate for our at-risk population and no longer allow camping throughout Overlook as a solution."
18 May 2020
N Portland Neighborhood Associations statement/proposal
10 April 2020
"3 temporary campsites to open next week for more unhoused people to shelter in place."
Kaia Sand, Streetroots. https://news.streetroots.org/2020/04/10/3-temporary-campsites-open-next-week-more-unhoused-people-shelter-place.
See:
31 March 2020.
Harbarger, Molly. "Mt. Scott Community Center to become coronavirus homeless shelter, officials plan for organized outdoor camping." Posted Mar 31, 2020, Updated Apr 01, 2020.
https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2020/03/mt-scott-community-center-to-become-coronavirus-homeless-shelter-officials-plan-for-organized-outdoor-camping.html.
"The city and Joint Office are also looking at opening outdoor spaces that could serve as organized camps.
"Wheeler has long resisted the idea of designated camping areas for homeless people who don’t have access to shelters. But advocates are increasingly calling for it as a way to protect homeless people and enforce social distancing for people living outdoors.
"Officials did not go into detail about the plan at the meeting and a Joint Office spokesman said he did not have the details about where it would be or how it would work."
Proposals/initiatives
Dignity Village (2003-)
at times has articulated a vision of additional villages or network of villages.
Need to look through DV materials, mine and online.
Creative Community Cooperative (2016-)
David Kahl (2016). "Securing Equity for Portland’s Creative Identity and Community: Position Paper and Proposal." 5/19/2016, Amended Version 3/14/18:
- Analysis and assessment of working artists, artisans, and craftspeople, their traditional and existing cultural and economic place in the broader Portland community, where this segment is headed, and cost of its potential loss.
- Assessment of existing infrastructural and service resources and their integration into a holistic program of physical and economic development.
- Provide a template of further application in available and/or distressed locations with the intent of creating cultural, educational, and economic magnets, while retaining the principles that make Portland socially and economically desirable.
- Afford equal access across demographics, especially for disabled and at-risk individuals and families.
Village Coalition (2016-)
recognizing, supporting, & representing multiple villages.
At times, members have articulated ideas of creating a much larger network of villages, campsites, and rest areas. [citation needed].
Keith Jones (2018) - a Right 2 Dream Too in every neighborhood
"I would like to see a R2D2 in every neighborhood."
--Keith Jones, Lloyd Community Association and the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods.
on, "Catching up with Right 2 Dream Too." Think Out Loud, Oregon Public Broadcasting, 6 Sept 2018. [Miller 2018].
Community Health & Safety Hubs - Sarah Iannarone
Part of the platform of Sarah Iannarone in campaign for 2020 Portland mayoral election. https://sarah2020.com/en/policies/rethinking-public-safety.
"Create Community Health & Safety (CHS) Hubs citywide which will provide temporary shelter beds, hygiene and health facilities, and critical services. As a city, our policies make living in poverty incredibly difficult when instead we should be providing relief for our neighbors who have fallen on hard times. Currently, Portlanders experiencing the trauma of extreme poverty are further victimized by local government rather than treated with compassion. Sarah will support community-led investments for a CHS hub in every neighborhood because no Portlander should be far from a safe space where they can rest— free from harm, warm, dry, and with access to basic human needs. Investment in these hubs will direct critical infrastructure dollars from over-policing towards schools, libraries, and community centers to help us meet existing demand. This will also increase services for people struggling with our current housing and health crises, as well as those seeking shelter during heat waves, storms, power outages and recovering from natural disasters."
Right 2 Dream Too (2020) - more rest areas, villages, and camp sites
March 15, web site post:
"When we talked about Covid19 at last week's general meeting, folks said that what they need to stay healthy is housing now!
"However, since we can't wait for housing for all, the time is now to set up more rest areas (minus the communal tents or at least reducing the capacity in communal sleeping spaces), more villages, more camp sites - where houseless people have access to all the things they need, and can follow the best practices for handwashing, isolating, accessing warmth, medicine, and community support. There are plenty of empty lots and pieces of land - both public and private - in this city. Neighborhoods - like yours! can organize these. We are happy to offer advice and support as you organize your own rest area.
"We can't wait for the government to take the lead on creative, out of the box solutions. We have to do the best we can with what we have.
"We absolutely need to stop the sweeps and let people stay safe in their homes - whether that home is a tent or is made of plywood." [..]
"While you are contacting your local government officials to ask tell them to support Right 2 Dream Too, let them know we need to use public land for more rest areas, villages and camp sites, so that houseless folks can be part of flattening the curve and having every chance to come through this pandemic."
Right 2 Dream Too. "Thanks to everyone who is supporting the houseless community in this time of scarcity.." Facebook post, 24 March, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/right2sleep/photos/a.360982200580151/3105492866129057/?type=3&theater.
Our members can not in good conscience turn folks out without a means of survival. Here's what we are looking for: [..]
*Land - a plot or lot, a building, where folks can set up. If we have permission, it makes it easier... that's how R2DToo got started on 4th and Burnside
*Organizers and supporters willing to work with folks on this. We need a wide variety of skills and obviously these small pop up communities can look different. You can host two people in your back yard or 15-30 people can share a large plot of land
R2DToo is not able to start a bunch of other communities but we would like to facilitate that happening! Contact us."
Pictured: A group of people standing on a gravel lot with a large banner that says "Legal Camping Now." Opening day at R2DToo - October 10th -2011
Sarah Carlston - another rest stop within next week or two
[Carlston is a board member of Right 2 Dream Too [or was in Sept 2018, at least]].
Village network / CoronaCottages (2020)
villages for all, with path to permanent
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Tim McCormick <tmccormick@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Mar 25, 2020 at 3:22 PM
Subject: Re: Ideas, Supplies and Resources
To: villagecoalition <villagecoalition@googlegroups.com>
Cc: Sarah Carlston , Andrew Heben <..squareonevillages.org>
Hi Sarah,thank you for doing this, I am very interested to follow and assist how I can. With coronavirus it's a huge concern that not only are the houseless at high risk to start with, but responses such as opening more congregate shelters (as Multnomah County doing with Convention Center, etc) could make it worse -- as is now being advised by Center for Disease Control, National Association to End Homelessness, etc.
With the high urgency and also new money/action occurring, I think we should step up to demand village-type shelter/housing, versus congregate or doing nothing.
In particular, I support approaches which create immediate improvement in conditions, but also have a clear path to become permanent housing. Putting people temporarily in hotel rooms, for example is appealing, but costly and not likely sustainable for long, and leaves people in a state of suspension.
Instead I think we could instead create safe, sanctioned villages for all in need, start with platform tents, and upgrade them to small, low-cost units which would have the capability of being re-sited as accessory dwelling units or cluster housing. Sleeping-pod designs from the POD Initiative could be intermediate steps, and for permanency-capable uits, I'd suggest SquareOne Villages' small, basic, mostly volunteer-buildable units, as used for some of the homes at Emerald Village, Eugene (see below, upper image).
I've been proposing such approaches to various people, lately using the label Corona Cottages, alluding to the 5600+ "earthquake cottages" built in San Francisco just after 1906 earthquake, with a similar move-to-permanent model that was a great success. (show in picture above, lower part black/white). See more discussion at coronacottages.housing.wiki. This is basically updating for current crisis situation, a model which we've been developing over last 18 months under the name New Starter Homes, proposed to the Meyer Trust for pilot.
Meyer has their annual main funding call open now for a few more weeks, and I am interested to discuss with them emergency pilot funding for this. Also with SquareOne Villages, and other funders such as Bay Area-based COVID Accelerator ("What can you build in 2 weeks that scales and saves lives?"), with which I'm currently working on to develop #OpenAid aid messaging system.
What do others think?
Hope everyone is doing well, as best possible.
thanks, Tim.
--
Tim McCormick
Editor at HousingWiki, Organizer at Village Collaborative
Portland, Oregon tjm.org/about / @tmccormick
comment in Village Collaborative facebook group, 26 March 2020, 9:35pm.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheVillageCollaborative/permalink/1289653147876325/?comment_id=1289676887873951:
"All over the country, including in Multnomah County, officials are rushing houseless people into conventional shelter situations which we have good reasons, and ample expert warnings, to fear are extremely high risk for coronavirus contagion and transmission. The residents, staff, and volunteers may be getting led into hugely raised risk, unnecessarily.
Nationally, many $ billions have just been allocated to homelessness response with a presumption favoring exactly the same.
Better, but still problematic: in California, San Francisco and the state are embarking on an effort to lease large number of hotel/motel rooms, negotiated rates.
While separate spaces such as hotel rooms are much better, and certainly I can see why anyone houseless would gladly take such comfort, there are major problems.
First, there is the classic disaster-situation problem that responses involving exceptional states can often be unstable, unsustainable, and/or lacking a ready, incremental, or organic path to long-term solution or recovery.
e.g., if one is put up in hotel, you presume it won't remain yours to use or very long, but you don't know how long, or where you might have to go after, or even what type of housing. Therefore psychologically and practically, it's hard to act, plan, stabilize, take initiative.
In disaster relief eg after earthquake, what people want & what recovery needs is getting ASAP on path to reconstructing familiar life, environment, & economy. So, asap facilitating people reinhabiting and repairing their homes, businesses, jobs, vs temp housing/shelter & aid.
Second, hotel room rental will be a big, steady cost, producing no long-term asset, and meanwhile undercutting the possibility of alternatives. I propose that for the likely cost of hotel room rental, most cities could be establishing villages with incrementally-built dwellings moving on a path towards permanent structures and siting. E.g. as accessory dwellings or cluster housing. As San Francisco did so successfully with its "earthquake cottages" after 1906 earthquake, building 5600 within months that were all moved off the camp public-land sites and used elsewhere."
C3PO camp villages, April 2020
"3 temporary campsites to open next week for more unhoused people to shelter in place."
Kaia Sand, Streetroots. https://news.streetroots.org/2020/04/10/3-temporary-campsites-open-next-week-more-unhoused-people-shelter-place.
"After several weeks of intensive planning between city workers, community organizers and organizations, three temporary camp villages are set to open on city land.
"Forty-five tents are slated for each of the campsites which should begin opening early next week — one in Old Town and two campsite in the Central Eastside. A minimum of 135 people will have access to these shelter-in-place camps. Partners who already share tents could increase that total."
"On Monday, March 23, Street Roots worked with Sisters of the Road and Afro Village PDX to draft a proposal to the city with ideas for increasing shelter, hygiene and other health services in Old Town. A coalition grew, and JOIN began leading a coordinated effort steered by Victory LaFara who, as Dignity Village support specialist, brought knowledge on setting up village living. The larger organizing committee includes JOIN, Afro Village, Coalition for Communities of Color, Dignity Village, Gather: Make: Shelter, Ground Score / Trash for Peace, Hygiene4All, Portland Street Medicine, Portland People’s Outreach Project, Right 2 Dream Too (R2DToo), Street Roots, Sisters of the Road, The Equi Institute, and the PDX Trans Housing Coalition.
"Playing off the Star Wars' themed R2DToo the effort is called “Creating Conscious Communities with People Outside” – or C(3)PO. Organizers met intensively these last few weeks, planning with city of Portland workers, including the staffs of Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty and Mayor Ted Wheeler."
Oregon Harbor of Hope tent distribution (March/April 2020)
Marissa Annette Cade. "Hi. I am trying to do an imperfect thing.." Facebook post, in group Portland Homeless, 25 March 2020. https://www.facebook.com/groups/pdxhomeless/permalink/1291577651038529/.
"Hi. I am trying to do an imperfect thing. I am working with a nonprofit to distribute 1,000 sleeping bags and tents to homeless people in Portland. I am working on a site map. My idea is to distribute them where the Harbor of Hope shower trucks run and where there are "hand washing stations," and portable restrooms. I have asked the Portland Police and the guys who do "Campsite Clean Up" to help distribute because they are already out helping people. Share your thoughts with me? Would hand washing, port-a-potty, and shower/laundry truck locations be good spots to distribute tents? Thank you - yours in service, Marissa."
Shelter to Housing Continuum Code Project
A new program of Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, begun around February 2020.
SHCCP (like "shhhh... CCCP"?)
apparently BPS is abbreviating it SH2C. (or SHC2?)
It was referred to previously, before it had an official project name, by Portland: Neighbors Welcome, Homelessness and Low-Income (sub)committe as ZHSS: Zoning for Homeless Shelter and Services.
See: ZHSS doc: bit.ly/ZHSS-doc for background notes.
Al Burns is the BPS planner in charge of this project.
Currently seeking update on status of this. A previously planned conference call for March 15 or so was cancelled due to coronavirus.
Community wash stations
effort particularly in St Johns, March 2020-
the United Front Against Displacement
@TheUfad Apr 4
With a lot of practice, we have improved our handwashing station design! It’s lighter and the pumps are better for use my multiple people. With enough materials we could produce almost a dozen in a day!! Please consider sharing and donating to this effort
https://twitter.com/TheUfad/status/1246626678345846784?s=20
https://www.gofundme.com/f/n3pe3-relief-for
N Portland Neighborhood Associations
North Portland Neighborhood Associations. "Joint Statement on Homelessness," May 12, 2020. http://overlookneighborhood.org/docs/NoPo%20Homeless%20letter.pdf
Excerpt:
"Short-term:
- Increase the availability of housing in supportive motels/hotels for vulnerable populations - especially families with children and the sick.
- Expedite permitting for the private effort to bring the Wapato facility into prompt service.
- Continue to create safe, sanctioned locations for camping, with immediate substantial increase in short-term support for residents, including:
- portable toilets
- hand washing stations
- regular garbage pick-up
- masks for COVID-19
- hand sanitizers/wipes
Long-term:
We believe that the establishment of multiple safe, legally sanctioned, managed camps throughout the city, such as Dignity Village and Kenton Women’s Village, will serve our overall community. These sanctioned camps should accommodate tent as well as car/RV camping. In addition to the basic sanitation needs above, managed camps should provide:
- More substantial sanitation such as showers.
- Direct access to public transportation.
- Managed self-governance.
- Access to social services, including referrals to drug and alcohol counseling, employment issues, physical and mental health services, and straightforward access to school for children within the community.
- A place for every person who needs one.
- Transition services to permanent housing for all residents.
As part of the both short-term and long-term solutions, we request that the City of Portland:
- Clear campsites located in parks, waterways and public paths, as well as camps where illegal activity has been documented.
- Install managed camps in all sextants of the city. Each neighborhood should be held accountable to participate in the process by identifying appropriate locations for local managed camps."
Related projects elsewhere
there are many village projects in many places. Here we are looking to list particularly any that aim to create multiple in some coordinated way across an area.
Saint Francis Challenge - Safe Organized Spaces
started in San Francisco by Amy Farrah Weiss.
http://www.saintfrancischallenge.org/sos.
"Safe organized spaces are transitional villages administered by service providers that:
- Meet California State codes for emergency shelter response;
- Operate in partnership with property owners, neighbors, village participants, & service providers in coordination with City services;
- Activate underutilized public/private land with interim permits, license agreements, insurance, baseline health and safety standards, a built-in process for multi-stakeholder input & evaluation, community benefits, and site-specific agreements.
Since 2015, Saint Francis Homelessness Challenge has been researching, developing, and piloting the SOS policy and operations framework with participation and input from currently/formerly unsheltered residents, service providers, property owners, and impacted neighbors.
References
Cade, Marissa Annette. "Hi. I am trying to do an imperfect thing.." Facebook post, in group Portland Homeless, 25 March 2020. https://www.facebook.com/groups/pdxhomeless/permalink/1291577651038529/.
"Hi. I am trying to do an imperfect thing. I am working with a nonprofit to distribute 1,000 sleeping bags and tents to homeless people in Portland. I am working on a site map. My idea is to distribute them where the Harbor of Hope shower trucks run and where there are "hand washing stations," and portable restrooms. I have asked the Portland Police and the guys who do "Campsite Clean Up" to help distribute because they are already out helping people. Share your thoughts with me? Would hand washing, port-a-potty, and shower/laundry truck locations be good spots to distribute tents? Thank you - yours in service, Marissa."
Fritz, Amanda, City of Portland Commissioner. Letter to Right 2 Dream Too Board of Directors. 25 March 2020. (announcing a $9,000 allocation from her office's fund, matching Lloyd Center community's fundraising, to keep Right 2 Dream Too operating).
Kahl, David Kahl (2016). "Securing Equity for Portland’s Creative Identity and Community: Position Paper and Proposal." 5/19/2016, Amended Version 3/14/18.
- Analysis and assessment of working artists, artisans, and craftspeople, their traditional and existing cultural and economic place in the broader Portland community, where this segment is headed, and cost of its potential loss.
- Assessment of existing infrastructural and service resources and their integration into a holistic program of physical and economic development.
- Provide a template of further application in available and/or distressed locations with the intent of creating cultural, educational, and economic magnets, while retaining the principles that make Portland socially and economically desirable.
- Afford equal access across demographics, especially for disabled and at-risk individuals and families.
Miller, Dave. "Catching up with Right 2 Dream Too." Think Out Loud, Oregon Public Broadcasting, 6 Sept 2018. https://www.opb.org/radio/programs/thinkoutloud/segment/the-blue-paradox-catching-up-with-right-2-dream-too-bends-first-creative-laureate/.
"The Portland homeless encampment Right 2 Dream, Too has been in its temporary location in the Lloyd district for about a year. We’ll talk to member of the neighborhood association and a camp resident about how it’s been going and what the future might hold for Right 2 Dream, Too. Our guests are Sarah Carlston with R2D2 and Keith Jones, with the Lloyd Community Association and the Northeast Coalition of Neighborhoods." "I would like to see a R2D2 in every neighborhood." -Keith Jones.
North Portland Neighborhood Associations. "Joint Statement on Homelessness," May 12.http://overlookneighborhood.org/docs/NoPo%20Homeless%20letter.pdf. (note, North Portland Neighborhood Associations is not a formal organization, it is a group of specific Neighborhood Associations that joined together in making this statement).
Right 2 Dream Too. "Love in the time of Coronavirus." 15 March 2020. https://right2dreamtoo.blogspot.com/2020/03/love-in-time-of-coronavirus.html.
Right 2 Dream Too. "Thanks to everyone who is supporting the houseless community in this time of scarcity.." Facebook post, 24 March, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/right2sleep/photos/a.360982200580151/3105492866129057/.
The Skanner. "North Portland Neighborhood Associations Propose a Third Way on Homelessness Crisis." The Skanner, 13 May 2020. https://www.theskanner.com/news/northwest/29971-north-portland-neighborhood-associations-propose-a-third-way-on-homelessness-crisis.
Wikipedia (En). "Right 2 Dream Too." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_2_Dream_Too.