↙↙↙PDX Interfaith Clergy Resistance

“Every single person waiting in line needs someone to just talk to them. There’s so much need out here I can feel it. Can you?” said Jenn, a shelter referral specialist at Blanchet House. To get real lasting help you need a phone, you need to be able to leave a message and be contactable, you need to be able to hold for long periods of time while you call resources, you’re told to come back on another day, all while you’re moving from place to place trying to survive. Most shelters require you to leave during the day. At night they have bed bugs. It’s hard to keep trying and keep hoping.

Sign the petition to save Portland Street Response (PSR)! We need to fully fund and expand PSR, the city program that sends mental health workers — instead of police — to 911 calls related to people having behavioral health crises outside. At Blanchet House, we rely on PSR almost daily to respond to people in distress outside our doors. There is no equivalent to PSR. When someone is experiencing a mental health episode it's not appropriate to call the police. They need mental health workers to sit with them and unpack their complex needs in order to get them appropriate care. Please sign the petition at friendsofpsr.com/

Our intrepid intern Thomas came up with the idea to check out all of the public restrooms available to people experiencing homelessness in Portland. First up is the Portland Loo located on NW Glisan at 5th Avenue. Thomas reports, “No toilet seat. It flushed and had water at the outside hand washing station. No hand sanitizer in the holders and no toilet paper.”

Many people are telling us that cars drove around Old Town last night throwing lit fireworks at people experiencing homelessness. That is assault on another human being! People living on our streets must be treated with dignity and protected from violence.