Reality Check

 This is the body of an email I sent to the mayor of Portland: 

You don’t know what it’s like out here.

I am disabled and homeless. I am fortunate in that I sleep in a shelter, giving me access to resources, such as a laptop and a place to plug it in, that my unsheltered friends do not have. I am also an ordained minister and street preacher. As part of my pastoral work, I counsel and listen to other people living in shelters or on the streets. Since November, I have interviewed 170 people in this dangerous and tenuous position. What I have learned may surprise you.

I’d like to tell you some of the realities of being homeless. I will address the ruling in Grants Pass vs Johnson that made it illegal to sleep in public, how this means the authorities can do anything they want to you, share with you the truth about the drug problem, and put a human face on the crisis that you need to see. Because I believe that every complaint should come with an answer, I will also offer a solution to the problem. This is the message that I preach to anyone who will listen:

Thanks to the ruling on June 28, 2024 (Johnson V Grants Pass), it is now illegal to sleep in public. This raises some problems: Sleep is a biological necessity. Everything that lives needs to sleep, even trees. If homeless people cannot sleep in public, where are they supposed to sleep? There are already not enough shelter beds for everyone, and the recent cuts to homelessness funding, along with your new policies, are making the problem worse. Eviction rates in Portland are at an all-time high, mostly for nonpayment of rent (Ambroziak). The primary reasons for this are employment layoffs and rising rent costs. This is why there are more homeless people than ever before.

It is becoming increasingly dangerous to live on the street, mainly because the authorities can do anything they want to you. A friend of mine, who is 5’3” and as menacing as a Muppet, was camping in a park when she was ordered by Parks and Recreation to move out. As she was doing so, she was visited by the police. They dragged her out of her tent, took her to the ground and cuffed her, then filed charges of assaulting an officer because he burned his hand on her cigarette. (Which she did warn him about.) Another friend was rousted from a grassy area between a street and a sidewalk. Because he was not given enough time to move everything, he had to salvage what he could and the rest of his belongings were simply thrown away. Even his tent was confiscated, leaving him with no shelter of any kind. My twin brother is homeless and crippled. He has been kicked out of his camp six times in the last three months and must find a way to move his belongings to a new camping area because he cannot get into a shelter. He is first in line for a pod living situation and has been for six weeks. They can’t get him in because they don’t have the capacity. When the authorities roust a tent dweller, they are supposed to give social outreach workers the chance to set them up with alternate shelter options, which they do not do.

One of the reasons you and others do not care about the homeless is because many of us use drugs. You believe we deserve it. About half of those I interviewed don’t use drugs at all (Including myself; I have never done anything stronger than cannabis.). Treatment first options do nothing for those of us without substance use disorders. There is an assumption that people become homeless because they use drugs. In fact, the opposite is true: People start using drugs because they are homeless (Nica). The two most popular street drugs are crystal meth and fentanyl. There is a reason for this. Fentanyl suppresses the appetite, helps you sleep, and treats chronic pain, which is not uncommon for somebody who sleeps on the hard ground every night. Crystal meth also suppresses the appetite, gives you energy when you have no food, and helps you stay warm. It is also used to treat ADHD by those who cannot access conventional medicine. Recovery housing is difficult to get into and will kick you right back out onto the street for a single relapse, which is inevitable when you are addicted to opiates. Among those I interviewed, only one stated that she would not quit doing drugs if she got into permanent housing, and that is only because the withdrawal would kill her. Everyone else told me that, if they had a place to live, they would stop using drugs. It may be an unpopular or even radical idea, but I believe that even drug addicts are human beings and deserve to have a roof over their heads. Addiction is a medical concern, not a moral failing.

People living in shelters or on the street have their own stories. 40 to 60% of homeless people work either full or part time (Pagaduan). Somebody with steady income should not have to choose between rent and food. 50% of the homeless live with some sort of disability (Thurman et al). Oregon has the highest rate of homeless children in the country; the vast majority of homeless children are unsheltered (Starke).

You ran on a platform of “solving the homelessness crisis in Portland.” Everything you are doing is actively making the problem worse. You are moving away from a “housing first” model, which has been proven to work, and pushing for a “treatment first” option, which has been proven not to work (Abby). You are cutting funding for homeless shelters, resulting in a loss of over 900 shelter beds, throwing more people out onto the street (Zielinski). How is this supposed to solve the problem? We need to address the homelessness crisis here in Portland in a realistic and compassionate manner. We need to adopt a “housing first” model, offering substance use and mental health treatment services once we get people into stable housing. We need more long-term shelter beds, giving people somewhere to go while they wait for subsidized housing. We need to build more low-income housing units that cost no more than one-third of the residents’ income and put more money into eviction prevention programs. You have the power to honestly address the homelessness crisis in our beautiful city. You can use your influence and political pull to help people rather than making their lives harder.

I don’t know if you are going to read this whole thing. I don’t know if you even care about the views of one among thousands of people living with homelessness. But I am a voter, and I will be spreading my message as far and wide as I can, to those on the street as well as those in permanent housing. Somebody has to care. Do you?

 

Sources:

Abby. “New Research Confirms Housing First Works and Treatment First Doesn’t.” Homeless Hub, 6 July 2026, https://homelesshub.ca/blog/2026/housing-first-works/. Accessed 13 July 2026.

Ambroziak, Emma Claire. “Evictions in Oregon Hit Record High.” Street Roots, 5 Mar. 2026, https://www.streetroots.org/housing/2026/03/05/evictions-in-oregon-hit-record-high/. Accessed 13 July 2026.

Nica. “Why Does Portland Have a Drug Problem?- Top Reasons | Life Renewal Behavioral Health Services.” Liferenewal.Us, 2023, https://www.liferenewal.us/why-does-portland-have-a-drug-problem-top-reasons/. Accessed 13 July 2026.

Pagaduan, Julie. “Employed and Experiencing Homelessness: What the Numbers Show.” National Alliance to End Homelessness, 2 Sept. 2022, https://endhomelessness.org/blog/employed-and-experiencing-homelessness-what-the-numbers-show/. Accessed 13 July 2026.

Pass, Johnson v Grants. “Johnson V. Grants Pass.” Johnson V. Grants Pass, 2024, https://johnsonvgrantspass.com/. Accessed 13 July 2026.

Stapilus, Randy. “The Mayor and the Unhoused of Portland.” Oregon Capital Chronicle, 11 Nov. 2025, https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/2025/11/11/the-mayor-and-the-unhoused-of-portland/. Accessed 13 July 2026.

Starke, Liz. “Understanding Homelessness in Portland: Check Your Knowledge! - Rose Haven.” Rose Haven, 30 July 2025, https://rosehaven.org/understanding-homelessness-in-portland/. Accessed 13 July 2026.

Thurman, Whitney, et al. “‘The System Tends to Scoop You up and Spit You Out and They’re Done with You’: The Intersection of Intellectual/Developmental Disability and Homelessness from the Perspectives of Service Providers.” Qualitative Health Research, vol. 33, no. 11, 7 Aug. 2023, pp. 1017–1029, 10.1177/10497323231186880.

Zielinski, Alex. “Portland Could Close More Than 950 Shelter Beds Under Mayor’s Budget.” Opb, OPB, 12 May 2026, https://www.opb.org/article/2026/05/12/portland-mayor-budget-950-shelter-beds-could-be-lost/. Accessed 13 July 2026.

“The Evidence Is Clear: Permanent Supportive Housing Works.” DESC, 9 Feb. 2026, https://www.desc.org/the-evidence-is-clear-permanent-supportive-housing-works/. Accessed 13 July 2026.