Here is a set of questions and answers on issues affecting homeless people, posed via email in July to both candidates for Portland City Commissioner # 1, and posted on Willamette Week's Blogwire. Willamette Week reporter Amanda Waldroupe and the Mercury's Matt Davis attended the "Truth Commission" event yesterday, hosted at Sisters of the Road Cafe and organized by their Civic Action Group. It was intended to encourage people experiencing homelessness to tell others about their lives. Amanda's report is on WWire, Matt's on Blogtown. Commissioner Nick Fish and I sat in the audience listening to almost two hours of citizens telling about their experiences with homelessness in general, and the City's Sidewalk Obstructions (aka "Sit-Lie") and Anti-Camping ordinances in particular. It was attended by a standing-room-only assembly of concerned folks.

Before you skip this post, thinking, "That will never happen to me or anyone I know", consider:

It's estimated 50% of personal bankruptcies are due to an uninsured medical emergency.

And that more than 50% of women living on the streets became homeless when fleeing domestic violence.

Most of the folks speaking yesterday didn't talk about how they became homeless, or what they might need to become housed. They related mostly the problems they encounter in a city that has thousands more people needing emergency shelter than there are beds... and two ordinances that make it illegal to rest outside of shelters.

As I said in my responses to Willamette Week's questions, I will work with the Council to solve problems affecting provision of affordable housing, jobs, and social services. I will use my experience as a nurse in the disjointed mental health care "system" in Oregon to push for cost-effective improvements and coordination that will save money for basic needs, including affordable housing. People placed in housing need services like job training and mental health treatment to help them succeed and become independent. I will work with Multnomah County to ensure that agencies with the most expertise are provided with adequate resources to promote long-term resolution of the factors causing homelessness. We need a well-rounded, coordinated approach to provision of housing and services. I will work with Commissioner Fish, the rest of the Council, Multnomah County, and state and federal legislators to improve systems and make them more cost-effective.

I hope Nick Fish will continue as Commissioner in charge of the Bureau of Housing and Community Development next year. His experience in housing and law provides a good foundation to solve even these tough problems -- especially if augmented with my knowledge in mental health care and neighborhood social services. I was impressed that Nick sat and listened at the meeting last night. He didn't make a grandstanding speech, and he didn't make a token appearance then leave - he stayed to hear every heartfelt personal story. Folks experiencing homelessness don't have much. Commissioner Fish gave them his respect by simply being there and staying, listening attentively.

A final note, to Patrick Nolen, Michael Buonocore and others in the Civic Action Group, and to those who perhaps felt you didn't have much to give and maybe there wasn't even any point in mustering the courage to speak: Thank you. I arrived feeling very tired, in the middle of a week when there are over 50 hours of events, appointments, and tasks on my campaign calendar, plus two eight-hour shifts at OHSU. "Remind me again why I'm working so hard?", I was thinking to myself as I walked in Old Town Chinatown to the event, while yet another get-your-own-dinner evening passed at the Fritz homestead. Listening to the speakers, I felt grateful to the goodheared people of Portland - some down, but not out. Many wanting earnestly to find solutions to challenges and problems. We have many faces, many voices, but we are all in this together.

"Oh yes, that's why I'm working so hard", I thought, as I made my way home with the bounce back in my steps. The Sidewalk Obstructions law will be reviewed by Council in June of next year, because it was written with a sunset clause of two years from its adoption. I want to have a vote on the Council when that happens. I want to hear the other sides to the issues, and I want to be a leader in finding real solutions that help more Portlanders. That's why I'm working so hard to win this election.