It is always easier to burn down than build up, easier to criticize than offer solutions, easier to bitch at something going wrong rather than working to make something right. Many people tend to love the ripping instead of the reflecting.
Since I began writing about the New American Diaspora, I have on occasion criticized advocates, elected officials and some of the homeless themselves. I have even criticized myself for failure to act when action was called for, standing three feet away from me, human beings on the verge of disintegration.
But as I continue to engage with this issue with my feet, heart and creative mind, some modest proposals to alleviate the miseries have coalesced in my consciousness and I thought it important to share them. I have read here and there that some of these proposals (or versions of what I am about to propose) have been implemented or proposed elsewhere. Some ideas also emerged from my direct observation of private property owners taking matters ingeniously and subtlety into their own hands. These private solutions have been almost totally unremarked upon in the media, but I walk past them every day.
And finally, some of these ideas are completely my own, at least as far I know. Perhaps some are reinventing the wheel. Perhaps some are bold as Darwin's theory. Call my ideas far fetched, call them pie in the sky, call them jazzy policy improvisations, call them anything you want, but you can't say some of them aren't worth trying because, really, there is nothing to lose. The money is also there. Politicians allocated emergency federal funds. Voters agreed to raise their taxes and tax big businesses.
My proposals:
Mark Twain once wrote a tale about a, “town of five or six thousand inhabitants...(and) church accommodations for thirty-five thousand.” There are approximately 500 churches in the Portland area and over 4000 in Oregon. I walk by three or four every morning in my affluent Portland neighborhood, and unless it's Sunday, a Saturday or Wednesday night, these large buildings with basements, kitchens, heat, restrooms, showers and other living amenities largely go unused. A large, two-storey Presbyterian church three blocks from my home with a parking lot for 20 vehicles especially intrigues me. The church clearly housed a school of some kind years ago and currently operates a small day care center and stages a Meals on Wheels program out of its commercial-grade kitchen. The church's willingness to serve its community beyond spiritual matters is already confirmed, but perhaps they could host an RV or tiny home in the parking lot and get one or two people off the street.
Think of all these churches and their empty buildings! What an insane waste of livable space that could be repurposed to temporarily house hundreds, if not thousands of people across Oregon. Think caretaker or live-in custodian or security guard during services and after hours. Some churches are already doing this, I imagine. As for another church in my neighborhood, I recently received word from a homeless man that one with a kind of Jesus Superstar vibe, has considered creating a tiny studio apartment in an outbuilding or the basement. I'm sure a little cash incentive might hasten this effort along. The state could wholly or partially subside this program, which would be run individually by each participating church. One could also imagine a single camper, RV trailer or fifth wheel trailer stationed in church parking lots to serve as transitional housing. Moreover, a while ago I was driving around and passed the sprawling Seventh Day Adventist conference/retreat center in Gladstone, a suburb of Portland. There for all to see, were hundreds of partial RV hookups, all vacant, waiting for summer visitors. Why not donate 15 or 20 sites for temporary use? Hire an onsite manager. Put the land and amenities to use. There are several other religious-affiliated conference/retreat centers in the metro area and about a dozen along the Oregon Coast and in the Willamette Valley. (I've stayed/gigged at four of them.) Many of these complexes contain hundreds of units of cabin-like, bunkhouse-style housing that have sheltered Christians of all ages for religious and recreational purposes for generations. They should be utilized temporarily on a small scale, particularly in the winter when this housing/shelter is never used. At least someone should ask church officials to deploy this secret housing weapon.
Isn't this kind of helping the downtrodden the primary mission of most religious institutions, or should be? Undoubtedly, many of these churches, mosques, temples, etc., are contributing millions of dollars and millions of hours of volunteer labor to help ameliorate the homeless crisis in various capacities. I have read of some religious organizations building housing and temporary shelters themselves. But not all. The building and infrastructure are already there. But of course, the neighbors, always, the neighbors. They would have to be approached and convinced and not because of any faith-based reason whatsoever. Make it a human-based reason. Perhaps this strategy of better engaging with the homeless crisis might energize interest in faith-based organizations and their service missions, particularly among young people.
Finally on the subject of churches and the homeless crisis, I recently read an editorial from a pastor representing a coalition of Christian churches in Portland. The writer wrote all the usual bromides about the crisis and then suggested the authorities in charge of alleviating it could do more and with much more urgency. What the editorial lacked was any call, let alone passionate call, to Christians out there to do more or any issue a direct plea (or challenge) for more churches to get involved. Many are already doing so much great work, but you just know many houses of worship are sitting this crisis out because it requires hard, hard, labor to work with homeless people and it also demands infinite patience, relentless belief in humanity, and a heart bigger than the Grinch's after his transplant.
Consider this: In the New Testament, we only read of the success stories of Jesus' ministry to the poor, the pariahs and lepers, the hungry and greed-ridden, the lame and dead, and a party that ran out of wine. There undoubtedly must have been many times where he failed to uplift or heal or the parables flew over the heads of their listeners. The writers of the New Testament sadly didn't include those stories. It was the biggest editorial mistake in the history of world literature. All of us would have been better served to learn how Jesus kept at it after a failure and questioned his methods and teachings when they didn't work.
RVs are the secret weapon to alleviating/solving the homeless crisis, at least on a temporary basis. I make this bold claim because I consider myself an expert on executing a low cost, minimalist RV life when I was strained to find affordable housing. I spent four years living in an ancient Winnebago parked in a somewhat disheveled RV park and met hundreds of other RV goers in rural Oregon (and traveling through) who have turned to RV parks and older model RVs because it was the last affordable housing living in America. It has often shocked me how little attention RV trailers and fifth wheel trailers receive (if any) from policymakers as an inexpensive, practical, emergency measure to house people. That's probably because most policymakers have never spent a night in one, and most likely never in an inexpensive (and occasionally seedy) RV park or the middle of nowhere on public land. Any drive down I-5 from Portland to Medford or I-84 east to Pendleton or along state roads such as, 99W, 99E, 30, 26, etc, and you will see hundreds and hundreds of used newer models (meaning less than 20 years old) campers, fifth wheel trailers and trailers for sale on commercial RV lots. You will also see hundred and hundreds in storage facilities, rusting, generally going to seed, their owner having died, forgotten about them, or hopelessly in arrears with rent. Buy them all! Create a program for homeless people to inhabit them on a short term or long term basis all around Oregon at the hundreds of privately run RV parks in areas where some of the most critical housing shortages exist. There are thousands of unused RV spaces across Oregon operated by the private sector and public agencies. Establish a state program to subsidize private RV park owners and public campgrounds to accommodate RVs (see below for the public part of the program). The used RVs would be purchased, slightly retrofitted to withstand year-round living, and then transported to the participating sites. Cities and counties might also consider establishing small RV parks to house people temporarily until all the promised affordable comes on line in the coming years. These parks could be erected in short order by finding available public or private land with power and water. Set up the dumpsters, portable toilets, portable showers and a central gray water dumping area. Most of these RVs would cost about the same as a space age sleeping pod and unlike sleeping pods, contain sinks, kitchens, storage and furniture. A real living space. Frankly, I can't believe it's not already happening everywhere. One might also contract with an Oregon trailer manufacture (and there are several, one in Portland) to construct a special 15-17-foot bare bones trailer without toilets or showers that would serve as transitional housing in sites with community toilets and showers. Why not try it? I have seen with my own eyes how RVs of all types in organized and safe places (not zombie/bombed-out RVs parked together in neighborhoods or under bridges) can successfully and inexpensively house people on low and fixed incomes. Many of these people I observed were also employed.
Dedicate one or two sites in every city, county and state and federal campground to house a homeless person or couple free of charge in a RV camper, trailer or fifth wheel trailer purchased by the state. There would be an application process with required references and a code of conduct to uphold. The stay would be temporary, say six months, strictly transitional in nature. Residents would be expected assist official campground hosts and labor a minimum number of hours to maintain the campground, just as official camp hosts do. Two miscues by a resident and you're out, pretty much what happens in apartment buildings, college dormitories or RV parks. One pet allowed. One bicycle. No lawnmowers. No trampolines.
Create a state tax credit or provide a direct subsidy for a homeowner to convert a garage, outbuilding or construct an ADU or RV pad for a homeless person(s) to live rent free or on partial (or subsidized) rent. Homeowners would have to agree to rent to this population for a minimum of two years, but have ability to manage the space like any other landlord. After two years, landlords could continue with the program and receive an additional tax credit or direct subsidy. The state and federal governments are already subsidizing motel owners to house the homeless, why not homeowners who want to help? In the long run, it would be much cheaper.
Matt, I love the ideas you propose and your objectivity in analyzing the practicality. You are correct that many churches have already tried some of these options and one of the biggest obstacles is neighbors' objections and local code restrictions.
Having served on a local planning commission a long time ago for seven years, I can attest to this and the inevitable testimony by those near what is proposed regardless of the purpose: "This is a great idea, but my neighborhood is the wrong place to do it."
That said, I think one difference now is that in Portland at least, there are significantly more financial resources to use in creative ways to motivate those who would be affected and who need to open their properties. And using case studies where a program has been successful and those housed have been good neighbors can really help.
I hope you continue to use your experience and creativity in being part of the solution.