safe rest villages
July 16, 2022 8:56 AM Subscribe
Program Overview of Streets to Stability: Safe Rest Villages - What are Safe Rest Villages? · Why are they needed? · How will they work? · Where will they be? · Who has responsibility for what? · How are they funded?
program background - How did we get to here? · Background · Service priorities · How has the site selection process been managed? · How does equity impact Safe Rest Villages? · Where else are outdoor shelters operating? Who else is operating them?
community engagement - Engagement Approach · When Does Site-Specific Community Engagement Begin? · Calendar of Overall Outreach To Date · Community Engagement Plan
"Understanding Safe Rest Villages: What They Will and Will Not Be: Safe Rest Villages will be short-term, managed outdoor shelters for people experiencing houselessness." - Safe Rest Villages WILL be · Safe Rest Villages WON'T be
funding - Where does the money come from? · How much is the SRV budget? · What about the future? · How is the budget broken down? · How does that compare to other types of shelters/services? · How many unhoused people will be served by Safe Rest Villages?
in the media - this link has its own pull quotes · Reading list for children · Reading list for everyone
program background - How did we get to here? · Background · Service priorities · How has the site selection process been managed? · How does equity impact Safe Rest Villages? · Where else are outdoor shelters operating? Who else is operating them?
community engagement - Engagement Approach · When Does Site-Specific Community Engagement Begin? · Calendar of Overall Outreach To Date · Community Engagement Plan
"Understanding Safe Rest Villages: What They Will and Will Not Be: Safe Rest Villages will be short-term, managed outdoor shelters for people experiencing houselessness." - Safe Rest Villages WILL be · Safe Rest Villages WON'T be
funding - Where does the money come from? · How much is the SRV budget? · What about the future? · How is the budget broken down? · How does that compare to other types of shelters/services? · How many unhoused people will be served by Safe Rest Villages?
in the media - this link has its own pull quotes · Reading list for children · Reading list for everyone
I think it's a very worthy idea to try, though it may need multiple iterations to get it right.
Yes, absolutely. As early adopters they're hopefully doing a lot of learning as they pave the way for other municipalities.
a pullquote from the "in the media" link -
Yes, absolutely. As early adopters they're hopefully doing a lot of learning as they pave the way for other municipalities.
a pullquote from the "in the media" link -
...County Chair Deborah Kafoury and City Commissioner Dan Ryan said the county will commit $1 billion over the next 10 years from the Metro homeless services ballot measure passed last May for housing services. It also said Ryan is leading a joint effort to "address the immediate and acute needs of people experiencing houselessness.posted by aniola at 9:53 AM on July 16, 2022 [3 favorites]
Weirdly, I only just looked at this stuff for the first time about ten minutes before seeing this post. One of the locations is partly the current site of The Belmont Goats (they announced this without giving the Goats nonprofit a heads up first). It’s looking like the goats will just be moving to the southern end of the property, though; literally just the other side of their current fence line.
posted by bixfrankonis at 9:55 AM on July 16, 2022
posted by bixfrankonis at 9:55 AM on July 16, 2022
At least as presented in the links, this sounds like a concept worth implementing and, for the people who gain admittance, much better conditions than the current encampments you see everywhere.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:47 AM on July 16, 2022
posted by Dip Flash at 10:47 AM on July 16, 2022
As early adopters they're hopefully doing a lot of learning as they pave the way for other municipalities.
Yes. I hope they can manage media coverage so that the inevitable challenges they will face do not become an excuse for condemnation of the whole concept. It should be obvious to everyone that having a private and safe place to sleep and leave your stuff is a baseline necessity for being able to get your life back together.
posted by praemunire at 1:05 PM on July 16, 2022 [3 favorites]
Yes. I hope they can manage media coverage so that the inevitable challenges they will face do not become an excuse for condemnation of the whole concept. It should be obvious to everyone that having a private and safe place to sleep and leave your stuff is a baseline necessity for being able to get your life back together.
posted by praemunire at 1:05 PM on July 16, 2022 [3 favorites]
It should be obvious to everyone
Yesss. But apparently it's not. I'm hoping that this post will help a little in showing that there are better options than what happens in these posts, for example [facebook].
posted by aniola at 1:24 PM on July 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
Yesss. But apparently it's not. I'm hoping that this post will help a little in showing that there are better options than what happens in these posts, for example [facebook].
posted by aniola at 1:24 PM on July 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
I also just want to highlight the above comment again in case someone who needs to read it missed it:
having a private and safe place to sleep and leave your stuff is a baseline necessity
posted by aniola at 1:24 PM on July 16, 2022 [9 favorites]
having a private and safe place to sleep and leave your stuff is a baseline necessity
posted by aniola at 1:24 PM on July 16, 2022 [9 favorites]
Add bathe and get clean clothes, to "sleep and leave your stuff". (been homeless, decades ago)
posted by Goofyy at 3:14 PM on July 16, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by Goofyy at 3:14 PM on July 16, 2022 [6 favorites]
Well, that's depressing. I just watched that during the pandemic and I'm trying to think of a way it doesn't compare and all I've really got is density and extent.
posted by aniola at 4:31 PM on July 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by aniola at 4:31 PM on July 16, 2022 [1 favorite]
Before reading the article I immediately thought of RPGs and the place where you can save your game and stash your loot between dungeon crawls. Actually, the analogy isn't that bad. If we accept that analogy, we also have to look at why life is such a dungeon crawl.
Of course you have to address people's immediate needs as a priority. Then you need to zoom out to the big picture. Rising inequality, a system that favors the owners, the fantasy of class mobility, incarceration solutions... this is some fucking dungeon! A save point like this is really useful, and so are the weapons and armor, but we have to get rid of the dungeon and all the monsters in it.
Anyway. A New Deal - a guarantee of dignity. You get a place of your own with a door that locks. America's a wealthy country, you shouldn't have people living on the side of the road. Everyone agrees on this. The greedlords will fucking hate it. Good, fuck them. Tax them. Make it unprofitable to exploit the most vulnerable.
I really hope this project helps people and avoids all the ways it could become a horror. You don't need to stress your imagination to see how it could become toxic very quickly. In an ideal world, there would be no need for such a place as this. That should be our ultimate goal - a life of dignity for all.
posted by adept256 at 5:25 PM on July 16, 2022 [4 favorites]
Of course you have to address people's immediate needs as a priority. Then you need to zoom out to the big picture. Rising inequality, a system that favors the owners, the fantasy of class mobility, incarceration solutions... this is some fucking dungeon! A save point like this is really useful, and so are the weapons and armor, but we have to get rid of the dungeon and all the monsters in it.
Anyway. A New Deal - a guarantee of dignity. You get a place of your own with a door that locks. America's a wealthy country, you shouldn't have people living on the side of the road. Everyone agrees on this. The greedlords will fucking hate it. Good, fuck them. Tax them. Make it unprofitable to exploit the most vulnerable.
I really hope this project helps people and avoids all the ways it could become a horror. You don't need to stress your imagination to see how it could become toxic very quickly. In an ideal world, there would be no need for such a place as this. That should be our ultimate goal - a life of dignity for all.
posted by adept256 at 5:25 PM on July 16, 2022 [4 favorites]
I, too, am hopeful. Seems like a good thing to try.
Every link here is to the PDX gov site, however, and Ted Wheeler and Dan Ryan have a long track record of stunning cruelty towards unhoused people in their city. Even now, as I understand it, they kicked off a fresh wave of aggressive sweeps, which included one particular case when they trashed a woman's stuff and harassed her, saying she needed to go to one of these villages, but she's in a wheelchair and they aren't accessible. But Ted will still point to the villages when he orders even more aggressive sweeps, and I wonder if that is their purpose just as much as any actual help they may provide.
Ted doesn't give a shit about people, and he has shown us this over and over. There is no mention of that history in this post, no link with any thoughts or perspectives on this from the unhoused community, and exclusively links to the gov site trying to put the project in the best possible light.
posted by kprincehouse at 7:41 AM on July 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
Every link here is to the PDX gov site, however, and Ted Wheeler and Dan Ryan have a long track record of stunning cruelty towards unhoused people in their city. Even now, as I understand it, they kicked off a fresh wave of aggressive sweeps, which included one particular case when they trashed a woman's stuff and harassed her, saying she needed to go to one of these villages, but she's in a wheelchair and they aren't accessible. But Ted will still point to the villages when he orders even more aggressive sweeps, and I wonder if that is their purpose just as much as any actual help they may provide.
Ted doesn't give a shit about people, and he has shown us this over and over. There is no mention of that history in this post, no link with any thoughts or perspectives on this from the unhoused community, and exclusively links to the gov site trying to put the project in the best possible light.
posted by kprincehouse at 7:41 AM on July 17, 2022 [3 favorites]
Did someone say Sanctuary District? I don't see how those could go wrong.
posted by kikaider01 at 9:16 AM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by kikaider01 at 9:16 AM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
I went googling for critiques of the concept from the left or from the unhoused themselves (beyond the obvious ones I mentioned), but all I found was the usual horrific NIMBYism. If there is a good article or essay on the subject from that POV, you should link it here.
posted by praemunire at 9:26 AM on July 17, 2022
posted by praemunire at 9:26 AM on July 17, 2022
For more on the related sweep of camps in Portland see this recent piece from Portland Mercury.
posted by bixfrankonis at 11:00 AM on July 17, 2022
posted by bixfrankonis at 11:00 AM on July 17, 2022
I think there's room for both. The City of Portland can be good in some ways and shitty in others. But it's disappointing and frustrating to see that the balance hasn't shifted yet.
Sweeps are ugly and unsafe. "Sweep" is a dirty word.
posted by aniola at 11:21 AM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Sweeps are ugly and unsafe. "Sweep" is a dirty word.
posted by aniola at 11:21 AM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also it's bizarre that the city is using buckets of poo as an excuse to do sweeps. The very same city that literally says that's exactly what you're supposed to do in an emergency.
posted by aniola at 11:23 AM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by aniola at 11:23 AM on July 17, 2022 [1 favorite]
Why is this better than an SRO/Dorm style accomodation?
posted by haptic_avenger at 5:31 PM on July 17, 2022
posted by haptic_avenger at 5:31 PM on July 17, 2022
Dorm-style shelters are neither safe nor private, and there are many people on the streets who would rather stay there than go into them.
SROs have much larger and more inflexible maintenance budgets, in addition to tending to lack the sort of amenities included here.
posted by praemunire at 7:29 AM on July 18, 2022
SROs have much larger and more inflexible maintenance budgets, in addition to tending to lack the sort of amenities included here.
posted by praemunire at 7:29 AM on July 18, 2022
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Also, I worry about people getting "stranded" there if permanent housing isn't made available, or if the path to that housing gets blocked. Knowing how municipal services fluctuate, I can picture the articles 20 years from now: "SRVs were intended to help the unhoused on the road to their own homes. Now, after funding cuts, residents languish for years in a dirty and dangerous, etc. etc." That's not a reason not to implement the SRVs, but it does mean there needs to be vigilance about long-term funding.
posted by praemunire at 9:40 AM on July 16, 2022 [15 favorites]