Housing Solutions Committee

This is a new SMILE committee exploring issues surrounding our homeless/houseless neighbors. Everyone is welcome to join the conversation. Meetings are held on the fourth Thursdays of the month at 6:30 PM via Zoom. Meeting information is on the SMILE calendar. Find recordings of past meetings below. For additional information about the committee, please email president@sellwood.org. To subscribe for the Housing Solutions Committee listserv, sign up here.

Committee Initiatives

The SMILE Housing Solutions Committee is working on several projects to help ease the crisis in our community. These begin with information gathering, and require community support.

We have sent out a survey of our local faith communities to discover what efforts are currently underway in support of the unsheltered, such as food or clothing drives; and what projects could conceivably be implemented, such as hygiene stations or supported micro-villages.
We are in conversation with Clean Camp PDX regarding the installation of trash receptacles in problem areas that will be privately serviced through grant funding. At this point we are looking for help identifying the problem areas that might benefit from this service. We have created an interactive map where you can pin the locations of trash areas for further discussion and analysis. (To add a trash site, click on the marker icon in the menu, then click on the site you want to pin. Please label the marker with the date of entry and add any comments.)
We are asking the community to consider whether there is a viable location to set up a hygiene center, such as a portable shower and/or laundry, on a regular basis – say one afternoon a week. This could be in an existing facility, or through arrangement with an organization that provides mobile services.
We are asking the community to consider whether there is a viable location to set up a supported micro-village, such as WeShine Parkrose, or Beacon Village, to provide safe shelter and support services for a small community of people in need of transitional help.

Resource Guide

Committee members have compiled a list of resources related to houselessness. This is a good place to start when researching this topic.

Want to Help?

If you would like to help support your houseless neighbors, here are some ways for you to take action:

Be informed. Know what is going on, fact from fiction. Here Together has an excellent bi-weekly newsletter that is a curated guide to what is happening in our communities to end the homeless crisis.
Contribute funds or supplies. Direct service organizations are funded by reimbursement for services, and need upfront operating funds to stay in operation. They also need supplies like socks, warm clothing and handwarmers. Street Books accepts paperback books, coloring books and markers. See our resource guide to get started.
Volunteer. Whether with direct service such as serving meals, or behind the scenes, the service providers need volunteer help. See our resource guide to get started.
Become involved with Housing Solutions. Help decide what actions SMILE should take as a community by attending our monthly meetings on the fourth Thursdays at 6:30 PM via Zoom. To subscribe for the Housing Solutions Committee listserv, sign up here. You will get a notice of the next meeting.

Housing Solutions Committee Principles and Objectives

Principles:

SMILE does not condone illegal camping but nor do we wish to condem individuals simply for being homeless.
SMILE is not in the business of running homeless services and will seek to partner with the professional organizations who are expert and experienced in this area.
SMILE will support and encourage actions that can be taken in our community to improve the situation with people living on the street while advocating for effective action to be taken by our City and State leaders and government agencies.

Objective: To be a forum for Sellwood-Moreland community members to come together to discuss, learn and agree on actions we can take to have a positive impact on our local houseless and homeless situation. Our committee is a forum to share ideas, concerns, resources and to help educate our community on the complex issues related to the current housing and homelessness crisis in Portland and enable us to take effective action. To achieve this, we will:

Not advocate for a “zero tolerance”, “unilateral clearance” or “law enforcement” response to people who find themselves living on our streets. We will refer any crime and/or community safety concerns to relevant authorities, law enforcement officials and/or the SMILE Community Safety Committee to respond to.
Develop a set of community “norms” around the behaviors we would like and expect of our houseless neighbors and that we would communicate consistently.
Seek to develop a local solution – such as accepted area(s) where we would allow supervised rest sites – run by other expert organizations – that offered temporary supports and referrals to mainstream services and that we could point to as an alternative place to stay than in areas deemed unacceptable to our community or unsafe to the houseless.
Source and/or offer training, education and other tools to community members to help them to feel able to best engage with or respond to houseless and homeless people living on our streets.

We have identified three areas of work and focus for the committee that appeal and cater to the needs, concerns and interests of our community:

Advocacy and Public Pressure: Communicating with public officials about our community needs, understanding the city/county/state strategy, seeking to support what we can and challenge what we see as ineffective, inappropriate, inadequate or inequitable.
Supporting our Houseless Neighbors: Activities that help provide basic necessities to those in immediate need, such as food, clothing, blankets, hygiene facilities, etc.
Improving Community Safety and “Livability”: Activities such as Neighborhood and Camp Clean-ups, getting to know our houseless neighbors, communicating our community norms and expectations, understanding their needs, and sharing resources.

MEETING RECORDINGS

01/25/2024 meeting recording (YouTube)

06/22/2023 meeting recording (YouTube)

05/25/2023 meeting recording (YouTube)

04/27/2023 meeting recording (YouTube)

03/23/23 meeting recording (YouTube)

02/23/23 meeting recording (YouTube)

01/26/23 meeting recording (YouTube)

12/08/22 meeting recording (YouTube)

6/30/22 meeting recording (YouTube)

4/28/22 meeting recording (YouTube)

3/31/22 meeting recording (YouTube)