Introduction
The proposal argument, the research questions I have related to my community theme project & the solution I have involves the homeless crisis in Portland Oregon. I believe we have three solutions, one create more housing & livable space in Portland for the homeless, two care more about the less fortunate and third conduct more research on homeless situation, what is working? Whats not working? And How do we help people get off the streets.
The topic is was one that connects with my community theme and something I see daily as I drive to work, to around Portland & driving to practice to coach high school basketball or driving home I see homeless people every day. With the weather changing from sunny days to rain, snow and the cold weather hits us over the next few months, I can’t help but feel bad for the homeless & grateful for what I have.
Working at Mt. Scott CommunityCenter for Portland Parks & Recreation we deal with homeless in many different ways. During the summers it’s mostly in the parks, we welcome the homeless to our parks to join the community but no drugs or drinking allowed. During the winter months when weather’s bad, we interact with the homeless more inside the community centers, using the restrooms, wanting to come inside to warm up or wanting to take a shower. The community center I work at is located right next to a church, which has many programs and opportunities for the homeless to get food, take a shower or get clean clothes.
I have grown up in Portland &it feels like homeless population is growing. After researching the topic, I noticed that the Homeless population gets broken down into several categories when tracking the homeless numbers. Some of the categories include children, teens, families, disabled, veterans, single parents, teen parents, people over the age of 55 and those categories get broken down into sheltered or unsheltered. Some other categories include looking at the amount of time someone has been homeless or looking at the racial ethnicity of the homeless population. It’s important to break down homeless population into different categories to better understand the issue and come up with solutions.What’s the definition of the word homeless, well depending on the country your in the legal definition changes. Wikipedia describes homelessness as “the circumstance when people are without a permanent dwelling, such as a house or apartment.
Portland offers different programs& services for the homeless. Portland Parks & Recreation has different days and times that allow for the homeless to take showers for free. Many local churches offer services for the homeless and Portland also has homeless shelters available. Portland has many services and programs to help decrease the homeless population by creating options for the homeless to back on their feet.
Homeless crisis Portland Oregon and how do we solve the problem or can we even find a solution? some cities have done better than others coming up with solutions but Portland has struggled to solve the issue. This is why we need to do more research to develop a sustainable plan for the homeless.
I believe we can solve the homeless crisis, I read article By Benjamin Holtzman, “We can’t solve homelessness until we understand how we’ve made it worse” This article talks about different solutions used throughout the years to solve the homelessness issue, it uses New York as example and how its homeless population much like the rest of the United States has gone up/ down over the years based many different factors. The biggest thing is, we can’t solve the problem without first understand it. I like this article because it makes some good points and gives me some ideas to work off of for my next essay.
Another great article to read is byHess, Robert V. “Helping People Off the Streets: Real Solutions to Urban Homelessness.” USA Today Magazine. Talks about helping people and solution to the homeless population it believes will help the problem. Talks about different solutions, how some of the homeless population are families, some are single moms or kids, to many a few. It’s a interesting article that shows how complex the problem is. I think it will be useful information for my essay.
In my research I came across articles by Toro, Paul A., and Paul A. Melissa G. Warren. “Homelessness in the United States: Policy Considerations.”The article talks about homelessness in the United States, talks about how in the last decade homelessness has got more and more attention from law makers, media, general public and government. Talks about & breaks down some different studies about homelessness. Interesting article that I think will be useful.
A great example of caring more for the less fortunate is restaurant in Seattle Washington called Boomtown Cafe. At the café homeless pay for breakfast and lunch but a lower rate, to help preserve the costumers who are homeless, self-respect. I read about it in a article by Spector, Amy. “Boomtown Cafe Showcases Menu of Self-Respect for Seattle Homeless.”Nation’s Restaurant News. The article also talks about how the café got the idea from a Portland Oregon. The article says “18-year-old Sisters of the Road Cafe in Portland, Ore., where customers pay a nominal fee, trade in food stamps or barter work in the restaurant for a tasty meal, he said. Like Sisters of the Road, Boomtown also sells meal coupon booklets, 10 for $25, that can be handed out to the homeless to discourage panhandling” I think this a great idea and also a creative one.
I could see a lot of business adapting this to help the homeless. It’s not a free meal but a way for the homeless to work for food and many other other services.I could see community centers adapting this by giving out free showers or day pass to use the facilities if you volunteer at events or help clean the indoor park toys for kids.
Driving around Portland, see new apartments and condos going up all the time and when I look at the rent, the price is extremely high. I see homeless shelters over following and homeless having to live on the streets or make camp grounds.
I can help to think when are we going to build more affordable housing or livable space for middle to lower income and also the homeless. We should spread those locations out, throughout the city of Portland. I think the rich, middle class, lower class and homeless can all share the same communities and care for each other.
Another option is to get creative like the café in Seattle and Portland to help the homeless solution. Building off of that if we study other cities, countries and are own history we create a plan that fits are city that will be sustainable over a ling period of time. I’m really big in research and how it can shape and develop plans that create sustainable results for issues. I see it at work, life and sports.
The homeless crisis in PortlandOregon. Three solutions, create more housing & livable space in Portland for the homeless, care more about the less fortunate and third conduct more research on homeless situation. The information gathered from the research will allow the city of Portland to develop a plan that is sustainable and can achieve the goal solving the homeless crisis in Portland.
A CLOSEUP ON THE RESEARCH
The question I have is Homelessness and how do we solve or help the problem? It seems like Portland has a growing homeless population and like the rest of the state, trying to find solutions is tough. I picked the topic because I find it interesting and I know people have lots of different opinions on the subject. This topic ties into the community theme project and the last essay because working for the city through PortlandParks & Recreation at Mt. Scott Community Center we deal with homeless in the parks, in the community centers and camping outside of the buildings at night. Can we solve it? What solution can we offer?
By Benjamin Holtzman, “We can’t solve homelessness until we understand how we’ve made it worse”, The Washington Post. October 25, 2018 at 6:00 AM
This article talks about different solutions used throughout the years to solve the homelessness issue, it uses New York as example and how its homeless population much like the rest of the United States has gone up/down over the years based many different factors. The biggest thing is, we can’t solve the problem without first understand it. I like this article because it makes some good points and gives me some ideas to work off of for my next essay.
Hess, Robert V. “Helping People Off the Streets: Real Solutions to Urban Homelessness.” USA Today Magazine, vol. 128, no. 2656, Jan. 2000, p. 18. EBSCOhost,
This article talks about helping people and solution to the homeless population it believes will help the problem. Talks about different solutions, how some of the homeless population are families, some are single moms or kids, to many a few. It’s a interesting article that shows how complex the problem is. I think it will be useful information for my essay.
Toro, Paul A., and Paul A. Melissa G. Warren. “Homelessness in the United States: Policy Considerations.” Journal of Community Psychology, vol. 27, no. 2, Mar. 1999, pp. 119–136. EBSCOhost,
The article talks about homelessness in the United States, talks about how in the last decade homelessness has got more and more attention from law makers, media, general public and government. Talks about & breaks down some different studies about homelessness. Interesting article that I think will be useful.
After looking at the two academic and two periodical sources, I can see that we trying to solve the issue but we could be doing more, we could be more creative and understand its not just one solution but many solutions that will be needed to solve the homeless problem.
READ MORE ON THIS TOPIC HERE…
By Benjamin Holtzman, “We can’t solve homelessness until we understand how we’ve made it worse”, The Washington Post. October 25, 2018 at6:00 AM
Hess, Robert V. “Helping People Off the Streets: Real Solutions to Urban Homelessness.” USA Today Magazine, vol. 128, no. 2656, Jan. 2000, p. 18. EBSCOhost,
Toro, Paul A., and Paul A. Melissa G. Warren. “Homelessness in the United States: Policy Considerations.” Journal of Community Psychology, vol. 27, no. 2, Mar. 1999, pp. 119–136. EBSCOhost
Oregonlive article (still need to add MLA for this one) https://www.oregonlive.com/portland-homeless/magnet.html
Oregonlive article (still need to add MLA for this one) https://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2017/06/portlands_homeless_population.html
City of Portland / Portland Parks Recreation website: (still need to add MLA for this one) https://www.portlandoregon.gov/toolkit/article/562207
Nathanson, Rebecca. “Denver’s Crackdown on Being Homeless.” Progressive, vol. 81, no. 7, Oct. 2017, p. 30. EBSCOhost, libproxy.pcc.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3df5h%26AN%3d125262621%26site%3dehost-live.
By Benjamin Holtzman, “We can’t solve homelessness until we understand how we’ve made it worse”, The Washington Post. October 25, 2018 at 6:00 AM
Hess, Robert V. “Helping People Off the Streets: Real Solutions to Urban Homelessness.” USA Today Magazine, vol. 128, no. 2656, Jan. 2000, p. 18. EBSCOhost,
Toro, Paul A., and Paul A. Melissa G. Warren. “Homelessness in the United States: Policy Considerations.” Journal of Community Psychology, vol. 27, no. 2, Mar. 1999, pp. 119–136. EBSCOhost,
Spector, Amy. “Boomtown Cafe Showcases Menu of Self-Respect for Seattle Homeless.” Nation’s Restaurant News, vol. 34, no. 20, May 2000, p. 4. EBSCOhost, libproxy.pcc.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3df5h%26AN%3d3148352%26site%3dehost-live.
Www.unsplash.com the image is from this site. https://unsplash.com/@breakyourboundaries4 Photo by Matt Collamer
Writing Is Resistance 
Hey Aaron! I love that you chose the topic/issue of local homelessness in Portland. It is something a lot of us locals care about in one way or another, and based on your discussion in your paper, it seems you do too. The article felt like a long outline to me, or in other words a research statement rather than a research paper, in tone. I thought the research you found was very interesting and directly related to your topic, though at times the in-text sources felt more like you were commenting on their validity in the paper more than including as a source for your thesis. If I were to surmise your thesis based on the paper, I’d state it as “homelessness in Portland needs to be solved because it’s growing”. This is a great point to make and I think given your personal experience with your community volunteering you have a direct perspective.
The shining star of your proposal was by far the reference to what those two small businesses from Portland and Seattle are doing. That is a great link to what could be considered a solution on a small scale that a some point can be harnessed globally/economically, and if I were to make a suggestion, I’d say going more into that side of the topic would be excellent. You provide a lot of great links, and I am left wanting to hear what you think about the solutions that those sources provide and how you think they can be used in Portland or how they could be revised to better suit this local problem. Overall, I love the topic and I think you found great sources. I only wish I got more info from you as to what you think and what you’ve experienced, so that you can apply the sources to what you envision to be a just and feasible solution. I look forward to reading the sources you provided and seeing what solutions they talk about!
Hi Aaron,
First of all let me just say that I think it’s wild that we chose the same image for our project! It was not just the first thing that popped up on google for me either. I enjoyed reading your essay on the same topic as mine and getting different perspectives and ideas for solutions. I appreciate that you share a passion for this issue! I think you mentioned a lot of great ideas and clearly did a lot of research to find good sources and articles.
To strengthen this paper I would suggest restructuring and developing your thesis a little more. Some of the paragraphs feel like seperate ideas that do not really lead into one another. I agree with Joel about your thesis, I think you need to make it a little clearer and focus on a main idea or topic for the solution that you are proposing. I think this was a great idea; “a way for the homeless to work for food and many other other services.I could see community centers adapting this by giving out free showers or day pass to use the facilities if you volunteer at events or help clean the indoor park toys for kids”. I would have loved to see you expand on that more. I do love how you bring your personal experience to this essay. The fact that you grew up here and interact with Portland’s homeless regularly contributes a lot to your paper and makes your arguments more credible. You obviously have a clear understanding of this issue and that translates well. I enjoyed reading your thoughts on this and think you have a lot of great ideas!
Hey Aaron,
Your paper was very interesting, and this is a subject that has bothered me as it has bothered you. Driving around seeing everyone on the side of the road, or camps and camp fires off the side of the freeway during winter I can help but wonder why.
As for your article, you bring up a lot of interesting points to help with the problem. It was interesting to read about the café in Seattle and Portland that help the homes with coupons in exchange for work or money to stop pan handling. You seem to bring up a lot of good points to help with small changes, but would it really help solve the problem that you are trying to solve. For example, if they are willing to work for food, wouldn’t one say that they can look for a real job to help them get off the street? I bring this up as you mentioned the point of coupons in your paper a lot and how programs are out there to help but they choose not too for whatever reason and that is why the question came up.
As for improvements, they other thing you mention a lot is affordable housing for those people and how we need to develop more land for homeless and others to live in. You bring this up a lot but you don’t mention how to do this, as to do this would cost a lot of money and have a very small if any return value so it would be difficult to do.
Like I said, you have great points and provide a lot of great research I think that is a huge plus, however as for improvements, I would have to say is when you state a solution maybe use evidence on how it would help like you did with the coupons and the café that help but you don’t do that with the affordable housing which seems to be the other solution that you hover around.