Working for housing, economic and racial justice as humble ED @ourjustfuture. Views here are my own. Retweets not an endorsement.
Portland, OR
Joined February 2009
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Kennedy School Theater - The Power of Place Roadshow - McMenamins. Come join @Ourjustfuture for this special screening and panel discussion that asks Portland the urgent question: Where we goin'? mcmenamins.com/event.aspx?id…
Sometimes sports are just great because . . . what an interception!
.@adrianwalkerjr_ just made one of the best one-handed interceptions you will see 😮
#MIFTBL | @ThinkFordFirst
If your main source of news is our local big-City newspaper - the Oregonian - you would have no idea there is a global crisis in Israel or an historic leadership vacancy in Congress - but you would know where to find Pumpkin spice mead in Portland.
WV has higher rates of overdose and addiction than OR but far lower rates of homelessness and the lowest rents in the country. Everyone who wants it should have access to treatment. But we won't solve homelessness without solving for housing. bitly.ws/Xdbh
Thank you @alex_zee for this great reporting on the origins of Oregon's homeless crisis. If you think homelessness in Oregon is just an outgrowth of our opioid crisis and that housing is not our most urgent solution, take a read. opb.org/article/2023/10/09/o…
A bit of a politically composed patchwork here. We still lack a shared theory of change and timelined approach to end our homeless crisis. These investments continue a trend toward short term approaches to manage homeless and away from treating homelessness as a housing problem.
The @multco board of commissioners just voted 4-1 to approve spending $63 million in surplus Supportive Housing Services dollars. Where did the money come from, and what does this mean? ⤵️
oregonlive.com/news/2023/09/…
I appreciate that our behavioral health systems are underfunded and need help. But using supportive housing dollars to operate encampments as shelter and to fund sobering services do reappropriates investments away from supportive housing.
I could have done w/o the toxic "Save Portland" rhetoric, but appreciated the thoughtful telling of Anthony's tragic story. Let's face our challenges Portland and do better by our people. #HousethePeople nytimes.com/2023/07/29/us/po…
While OR is not California, the findings here on what is causing homelessness and who experiences it should inform our solutions. @MKushel and her team found that high housing cost, job loss were key causes and that Black and Brown people experience it disproportionately.
Learn what's driving homelessness in CA and how we can change things in this brief overview of #CAHomelessnessStudy findings with @MKushel and
@AliRogin on @NewsHour tonight.
🔗pbs.org/newshour/show/whos-m…
#homelessness #racialequity #housingcrisis
Worth remembering that other cruel policies like Japanese Internment, the Death Penalty and Corporal Punishment also enjoyed broad public support. Opinion polls are not a good way to make policy decisions - especially those that disparately impact the most disenfranchised.
Yes, the daytime camping ban passed due in part to your pressure. Now we need enforcement so we must keep the pressure up.
This is a reminder of how deep the support is for it. Hopefully @tedwheeler is listening: a law w/o enforcement is meaningless. We expect follow through.
Salary commission is proposing 15% raises for electeds to attract more diverse candidates and so they can thrive. Meanwhile the City Budget provides a 5% COLA for human service contractors, who are not funded to pay living wages to a majority Black and Brown workforce!
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As is often the case, real life imitates Seinfeld.
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Pdx is investing in Community Solutions/Built for Zero and listening to their advice to end our homeless crisis. Community Solutions condemns the punitive politics of homelessness while Pdx is criminalizing homeless camping. Feels like we are listening selectively at best.
POLICY BRIEF: POLICING AND THE PUNITIVE POLITICS OF LOCAL HOMELESSNESS POLICY community.solutions/research… @cmtysolutions @BuiltforZero
With its vote last night to criminalize people left to sleep outside for doing so during the day, Portland has redefined the homeless crisis. What was a crisis of our inhumanity that we cannot provide a home for everyone has become a new crisis - our inhumanity is too visible.
Important read covering the broken funding model that leaves service providers underfunded and the workers doing some of the hardest work in our community underpaid.
Follow me into the weeds:
opb.org/article/2023/06/06/p…
We are seeing this same issue here in Pdx. Starting pay under $20/hour at many orgs when data tells us you need to earn $29.08 to afford a 1bdrm apt here. 5% COLA offered on contracts this year does not even keep up with inflation and less than half of rent increases
Homeless service organizations are severely underpaid by government contracts, squeezing pay for front line workers. @LATimesOpinion: "LA city and county agencies must stop exploiting people doing this indispensable humanitarian work by underpaying them." latimes.com/opinion/story/20…
5% COLAS in social services do not keep up with market wages (which rose 9.1%) and do not keep up with Inflation (6.1%) and rising housing costs for employees who rent (over 10%). oregonlive.com/business/2023…
Source for income of $29.08 per hour needed to afford a one-bedroom apartment in Portland Region: nlihc.org/oor/state/or