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Thursday, September 2, 2010
News Coming Soon: Place for Homeless to Safely Stash Their Stuff
Posted by Denis C. Theriault on Thu, Sep 2, 2010 at 4:14 PM
Portland's Housing Bureau is very close to announcing the site of a new facility downtown where homeless residents downtown can store their things during the day without fear of having them stolen or confiscated. Once its location is revealed, the storage facility is expected to open within the next two weeks.
The storage facility won't be fancy—in fact it will be decidedly un-fancy to keep costs down. But it will offer a vital service for residents who might want to interview for jobs or housing or attend medical or court appointments, but would worry instead about leaving their personal belongings unguarded and vulnerable.
According to Daniel Ledezma, a policy adviser in Commissioner Nick Fish's office, it'll work like this:
The facility will open two hours in the morning, to let clients leaving shelters check their things in, and then reopen two hours in the evening to let them retrieve their things before bedding down for the night.
Weapons and drugs, along with unwrapped food, are prohibited (and alcohol is "frowned upon," Ledezma says). But staff won't be manually inspecting the satchels they process. Everyone will be on the honor system.
In all, about 40 slots will be open each day, Ledezma said—basically refurbished shopping carts, which were cheaper than building actual lockers and also more portable.
The center is meant to be a stopgap, operating only through next June. That's about when Portland's much-ballyhooed showpiece Resource Access Center for the homeless is expected to open. There, more than twice as many storage spots will be available. Ledezma said the temporary storage center will serve as something of a shakedown cruise for the larger facility.
The whole thing will cost $36,000, with the Portland Business Alliance kicking in $6,000 and the city picking up the rest. Staffers will be drawn from the PBA's Clean and Safe program.
1
Hands up for how many of you think the mentally ill armies will line up to surrender their shopping carts?
Now someone tell me what the f*c+ a city sponsored 'Shakedown cruise' is ?!
Not to mention the spillover cost of thefts which turn violent and then negatively impact downtown business and tourism. No wonder the normally conservative Portland Business Alliance kicked in a few ducats.
3
My guess would be that these would be most beneficial to the working homeless and the ones looking for work.
A shakedown cruise is another way of saying a practice run. A trial period to work out any problems.
4
lew - do you think that $36K spent to attract homeless people to Portland will stop petty street fights?
And no, I don't think $36K worth of lockers will do a thing to attract additional homeless to downtown Portland. ("Hey, I was gonna hop a train to Santa Cruz this winter...but then I heard Portland has lockers!" - quoth a homeless guy)
Conversely, would having a cheap locker make being homeless so attractive to you that you'd quit your job to ride out that sweet, cushy locker-filled homeless life on the streets?
6
I used to live in Santa Cruz. Was homeless there too for a time. The downtown business association wasn't nearly as draconian in Santa Cruz. Many more trust fund collage kids begging for change there than here. Winters are more mild there. Overall it seems like it would be much harder to get yourself back on your feet there due to insane cost of living and lack of community resources.
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