Living in crisis on the streets of Portland

“It’s been nearly four decades since modern homelessness worked its way into our collective awareness. Unlike the Civil War or the Great Depression that caused massive waves of ‘itinerant poor,’ the rise in homelessness in the 1980s was borne of social politics and global economics. And in just 40 years, it has reached crisis proportions,” according to Joanne Zuhl in her article for Street Roots.

“Most of the people we see on the streets today were just teens or younger 40 years ago. The majority of people included in Portland, Oregon’s Multnomah County 2019 Point In Time homeless count were between the ages of 25 and 54. Some of those tallied weren’t even born by the time suppressed wages, higher housing costs and gutted social services began undercutting family safety nets. Others were only infants in their parents’ arms when the federal government divested in affordable housing in the 1980s, creating a lagging shortage that continues to this day.”

“Most of the 92 people who died homeless on Multnomah County streets in 2018 would have been mere toddlers 40 years ago when the Reagan administration largely repealed the Mental Health Systems Act, slashing federal support for people living with a mental illness. States and block grants couldn’t keep up with the need for services. Today, studies suggest approximately one-third of people experiencing homelessness have a serious mental health disorder.”

“An entire generation, and then some, has grown up with and within this crisis,” she said.

Source: https://news.streetroots.org/2020/01/31/how-do-we-prevent-another-generation-homelessness