February 5

Dear Mayor,

My niece works at Secora of Cascadia. (https://www.secorahealth.com/) She has many patients who are dependent on their services as well as having very few resources. She called me today in a panic for a patient who has healed enough to no longer qualify for a recovery bed  but has no where to go.  His unemployment has ran out, he has no work, and no where to live. His only income currently is foodstamps. He's turning 53 on Friday and has never been homeless before. He's terrified of the dark. He slept a couple nights at a shelter and found the experience further traumatizing. Health care facilities; hospitals, mental health and physical therapy facilities are often the last stop before living on the street.  Many of the "new" homeless as I'm sure you know are late middle age and have never identified with the homeless.  To them, the homeless are scary and worthless and not like them.  But like the homeless advocates they soon discover that's not entirely true. 

I've been working on my family's genealogy.  Both my husband's and my family have lived in the Northwest, Washington and Oregon for many generations. My husband's father Fred's family was particularly dysfunctional with teenage pregnancy, alcoholism, multiple divorces and make shift relationships. But surprisingly, even though my father in law was a heroin addict in the 50's and spent years in prison, he was never homeless. Never homeless. How is that even possible? It's not in today's Portland. He had a horrible self destructive youth,but was turned around in prison because of the educational programs then offered  and when he got out he went to college. He majored in psychology and  was hired by the state to be a counselor at  Hilcrest School for girls and retired from there in the 90's. 

Never being homeless was a huge boost up for Fred. Though he had incredible pain in his past; when he was eight years old his mother died he was abandoned by a stepfather in a hotel  and he was there for several days before the hotel manager found him. He spent a year in foster care after that,surprisingly a time he  remembers fondly. Fred had enough family (an aunt) to be re-united with family but others in his situation do not.

Homeless are just people without houses and/or a safety net.  

Less than ideal solutions are better than sleeping on cement under the feet of the house secure.

It's time to listen to the advocates.