Super Tuesday took over the Mercury Election HQ yesterday, bumping our Tuesday council race question to today—I wouldn’t want Randy Leonard, Martha Perez, Ed Kill and Emily Ryan to be overshadowed by California delegates.

Unlike the race for the Democratic presidential nominee, which has largely come down to a question of who’s more electable, here at Mercury Election HQ we dive into the issues that make Portland hum. This week’s:

Portland is in year three of the 10-year plan to end homelessness, and the city council is about to lose that plan’s biggest advocate, Erik Sten. Can homelessness actually be ended, and is the 10-year-plan on track to accomplish that goal?

Randy Leonard, as always, answered first.

Randy Leonard
Position sought: Commissioner #4
Website: randyforportland.com
Public financing status: Not participating in program

To properly answer whether or not homelessness can actually be ended within 10 years, one must first understand the variety of reasons human beings find themselves without homes, living in their cars or on the streets.

When economic conditions leave people homeless—for example, because of the loss of a job—I do believe we can and should create decent places for individuals, couples and families to live. As Commissioner Sten has shown, there are a variety of funding strategies we can use to create homes for all of the people who want to have a home but cannot afford to get into housing.

However, when homelessness is caused by addiction, mental illness or a combination of the two, the solution to end homelessness is exponentially more complicated.

Some in the housing community were less than pleased over the past two years when I brought forward emergency funding to provide a night shelter for homeless women during the winter months. They were concerned that by advocating for short term help for women living on the street, I was making it more difficult to provide permanent housing for that population under the 10-year plan to end homelessness.

However, I do think those well-meaning housing advocates did not understand the distinction between people who want to have a permanent home but do not have the means to make that happen and those who choose to remain homeless as a symptom of their addictions or mental illness.

I have told Commissioner Sten that I am committed to carry on his work to advocate for those who cannot advocate for themselves. I will, for example, pick up his fight to site the homeless day shelter on block 25 in Old Town.

I have also promised Commissioner Sten that I will continue working to achieve the vision he set forth to provide housing for all who want permanent housing. However, I will also fight to provide emergency shelter for those individuals who fall through the cracks and need temporary but safe and clean housing to protect them from the brutal elements that can make life on the streets lethal.

Martha Perez
Position sought: Commissioner #4
Website: none (contact: moperez73@aol.com)
Public financing status: Less than 100 signatures & contributions

Well, yes and no. When we lost Erik, I think the council lost it's heart (not to say that the other members don't have heart, but Erik really was/is passionate about ending homelessness, I think). As would-be Commissioner of Public Safety, I can think of a lot of reasons why homelessness continues to be something that I shall spend my career working on. I think we're about 70+% able to end homelessness, but we have to continue to get support from ALL levels of government, non-profits and the business community, too.

However, it's the 30% that I am unsure of, but shall pledge to do all I can to figure it out. What I am saying, is that the reason for why homelessness can never end, is because you cannot stop those, who, for whatever reasons, choose or remain homeless (or thru no fault of their own). Nevertheless, we still have an obligation to assist (and not coerce) those small groups who remained homeless. The reasons for why a person are homeless are not always easy to define; I'm not personally advocating whether or not those are good reasons-only to say that as long as the homeless are continually criminalized, brutalized and victimized, we must do our part to assist. Our police need to be more sensitive to their plight, too and I've many ideas for how to do this.

In addition, I'm genuinely concerned that organ trafficking, as well as other forms of exploitation (financial and/both sexual) against the homeless and/both undocumented immigrants, continues to occur, even after housing and other resources have been identified. I think we in Portland couldn't imagine these things going on in our backyard, but it does happen, even if we don't know the victims personally.

Part of what we need to do, with respect to the 10-year-plan to end homelessness, is that we must continue to outreach and partner with those agencies (such as Sisters of the Road, Central City Concern and others, etc.) who can offer expert guidance on what works and what doesn't. Sometimes, best practices limit our ability to seek insight into what truly can be defining solutions, if we are to take the issue of homelessness, hunger and lack of healthcare more seriously.

I recall, in my early years of being a single parent, being homeless, for example. I had left my home, due to family violence I experienced at the hands of my step-father (whom I have forgiven) and both witnessed domestic violence (I saw him assault my mother). I was fortunate to have survived (due to a caring neighbor) and later found myself (& my young daughter) on the streets of Sacramento, California, in 1999.

I was grateful to have received a comprehensive package of assistance from a place called "Friendship Park" which promotes the idea of a "one-stop center for the needs of the homeless". I was able to get my life back on track, due to this concept. Five years later, I was working for the State of California as a business advisor. However, if it weren't for the work that homeless advocates do on a daily basis (often un-paid and un-thanked) who knows what may have happened? I recall the shelters always having to turn entire families away, because the shelters were already full. We know that this happens in Portland, every night.

I don't want my audience to feel sorry for me; I want them to know that I am aware of the difficulties of homelessness and that it is not just veterans, mentally ill or the drug-addicted who are suffering. Increasingly, it is now the working poor, families with children and the elderly. So, the stakes are, in many ways, higher than ever before. It bothers me to know that we've got 2 year wait-lists for public housing here in Portland and Multnomah County. It bothers me to know that there are people from all walks of life sleeping in cars and alleyways whose bellies go empty. It especially angers me when a child can't go to school, for lack of a permanent address (although we can enrich those schools who take in homeless kids). It alarms me and it should alarm you, too.

Again, I don't claim to know all of the answers to our issues, but I promise and can assure you that I am open to all ideas, both bureaucratic ones and creative, too. I do respect the work that Dignity Village has done, for example, but I also am glad to read that in South America, it was ultimately the tenants of slum residences, who refused to be displaced from their shanty dwellings and re-asserted their right to a safe living environment. It was the tenants, who were often forced to pay high rent fees, who finally decided that they had had enough. However, we mustn't wait until Portland is so expensive, that people start to leave, and some would argue that they already have. The time has come to turn this disturbing trend around, lest our city becomes gentrified like San Francisco.

COME BACK TO PORTLAND....COME BACK TO RE-CLAIM YOUR CITY....WITHOUT YOU, PORTLAND CANNOT BE PORTLAND....

Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to read this statement.

Respectfully Submitted,
Martha Perez
General Political Activist
Candidate, City Commissioner, Position No. 4 (Public Safety)

Ed Kill
Position sought: Commissioner #4
Website: none
Public financing status: Not participating in program

The simple answer to the question is NO, society will never be totally rid of homelessness.

If we were to find homes for every single person today, then tomorrow there would be more homeless.

The only way Portland can totally end homelessness is if the entire country ends homelessness all at once and I don’t expect that anytime soon. Portland’s ten year plan is great but homelessness is not a ten year problem, it’s a fact of life that will exist as long as large cities exist.

Homelessness is a situation that must be constantly worked at. Just like bridge repair is necessary for the maintenance of the city, fighting homelessness is necessary for the maintenance of our community.
One of the best ways to fight a problem is to bring it out into the open so everyone can see it. The Mayor just did this recently by moving into one of our local schools for a week. When I’m elected I am going to do something similar, I’m going to move onto the streets for one month every year. I will be Portland’s homeless councilman, this would keep the problem in the forefront where it needs to be.
I believe in ‘hands on’ work and getting involved directly, I believe in getting problems fixed.

Ed
Votefored@gmail.com

Emily S. Ryan
Position sought: Commissioner #4
Website: emilysryan.com
Public financing status: Less than 100 signatures & contributions

Although the City will be loosing a huge advocate, I am also a homeless advocate and have been for quite some time. Not only am i an advocate but I have had the experience of being homeless and know what a hard time it is on the individual's body, mind, and soul. I have sat on the Homeless Youth Oversight Committee for about five years, and Chair the Poverty Action Council for Multnomah County. In these roles, I have worked with others to help families come out of poverty and educate elected officials on the "poor".

I think the 10 year Plan is a start. i personally don't think that homelessness can be ended in 10 years, especially with the current plan. Homeless people are evolving. One of my paid jobs is in OldTown ChinaTown where there is a huge homeless population. The people that pass are different each time and the ones that have been around for awhile are changing thier mental states, where they squat, and even how they ask for people for spare change.

I think that housing is only half the battle, the other half is employment. Not jus getting people jobs but educating them and empowering them to search out skills, knowledge and passion to help them find thier own jobs. That way they will love the job, and know how to keep it. Even if it's a small position sorting mail for a building or university, it can help boost an individual's self-esteem. I have a sister that is developmentally challenged and she loves her many small jobs. She gets paid and is able to make an impact in the lives of others.

The 10 year Plan is on it's way to having a huge impact but not everything is perfect. Because of the housing first strategy, I know someone who has to pay rent in a building that housing is given away to people who don't. In return he has to deal with urine and feces in the hallway, open drug and alcohol use, and many other things he had hoped to get away from by paying for his own housing. This is not something he deems as fair.

One thing that has to be understood by everyone is that the 10 Year Plan didn't just come up in a discussion and was automatically developed. We are mandated by the current federal adminisraition to create and implement a 10 year Plan to End Homelessness. Although the intentions were great, i think it lost a lot of heart that it could have had if was a community idea.

Emily S. Ryan
Emily S. Ryan for City Council
City Commissioner Position No. 4
Portland, Oregon
http://emilysryan.com