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"subject them to stares, reinforcing their "outsider" status either by making them invisible or making them visible only through negative attention"

"the misperception that people without homes are perpetrators, rather than victims, of violence contributes to both criminalizing homelessness and dehumanizing people without housing" https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/blog/violence-against-people-homeless-hidden-epidemic

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They don't have as much rights as regular humans

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They don't have as much rights as regular humans

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"often discriminated on the basis of their housing status or due to their lack of official address, affecting their political, economic and social rights, such as their right to participation in elections, their right to work, or their right to access certain social benefits"

"deny people who are homeless basic civil and human rights and harm our communities" https://wraphome.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/R2R-CA-Legislation-01.05.2018-1.pdf

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"those experiencing homelessness for more than two years faced an especially high risk of experiencing a violent attack."

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In May, Willamette Week reported the Old Town homeless village was closing. One of the original C3PO (Creating Conscious Communities with People Outside) sites developed to provide shelter for homeless Portlanders during the pandemic, the Old Town village community hosted residents, providing shelter in individual structures in addition to a communal kitchen, laundry and supportive resources.

All Good Northwest, which began operating the village in October 2021, was closing the Old Town site because of dangerous conditions, specifically "daily and nightly gunfire and gun activity," WW reported.

News of the closure preceded a rash of coverage pointing to the unsafe conditions in the core of Portland's downtown, an area already fraught with contention over how city, county, state and federal agencies are addressing the homelessness crisis. Homelessness, particularly in the downtown area, has catalyzed a wave of neighborhood and business associations pushing to "save" downtown, some even characterizing the effort to clean up downtown and revive the economy as a " fight for the soul of Portland."

But in the tumult of rising crime, protracted pandemic fallout and the twin crises of homelessness and housing, the actual cause of crime, danger and violence is often lost. For many housed people, the tendency is to conflate homeless populations with violent crime and danger. However, data and evidence show homeless people are more often victims of violent crime, rather than perpetrators.

Greg Townley, professor and co-founder of the Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative at Portland State, said concerns about connections between homelessness and crime are often misplaced.

"I think that often, community members do focus their fears too much on violence perpetrated by homeless people when it's really important to remember that homelessness increases vulnerability to violence among people who are homeless, not among people who are housed," Townley said.

Unhoused populations are more likely to experience violence

A study from the National Healthcare for the Homeless Council found people experiencing homelessness are at an increased risk of victimization themselves. Nearly half - 49% for men and 48% for women - of those surveyed reported experiencing violence. Older people and those experiencing homelessness for more than two years faced an especially high risk of experiencing a violent attack. Being female and homeless was also a predictor of violence, including rape. Women were significantly more likely to know the perpetrator and experience continued suffering after a violent attack, researchers found.

"It's also really important to know that there are many instances of housed people enacting violence against people who are homeless."
- Greg Townley, professor and co-founder of the Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative at Portland State University

Despite the myth of homeless violence, housed people are frequently perpetrators in cases of violence against homeless people.

"It's also really important to know that there are many instances of housed people enacting violence against people who are homeless," Townley said.

At times, this violence comes in the form of hate crimes. The National Coalition for the Homeless found the number of undeclared hate crimes resulting in the death of a homeless person happened at double the rate of other hate crime deaths based on religion, race or disability. Between 1999 and 2017, hate crime deaths among the general population totaled 183. In this same time period, 483 homeless people were killed in attacks by housed people.

There are instances of violent crimes perpetrated by homeless people, but they are far less likely to commit violent offenses than housed people. Conversely, they are much more likely than housed people to be charged with crimes related to survival and lifestyle, such as property-related crimes, loitering, drinking outside, noise and panhandling.

Homeless people are arrested at higher rates

Overall, homeless people are much more likely to be arrested than housed people. An investigation by Melissa Lewis at Reveal found police in West Coast cities arrest homeless people at a disproportionate rate. In Portland, homeless people comprised 50% of all arrests between 2017 and 2020, even though the population of homeless people was less than 2%. In the same time period, homeless arrests accounted for 42% of arrests in Sacramento and 24% in Los Angeles. Unhoused residents were roughly 2% of the population in these cities, too.

According to Reveal, "neighborhood outcry is fueling the vast criminalization of the homeless for largely nonviolent violations." The majority of the time police receive reports about homeless people, they aren't crimes but are reports of a homeless person acting "suspicious" or for welfare checks. These calls often end in the arrest of a homeless person just the same, often for old infractions or low-level warrants.

Portland, like other cities in the nation, is experiencing a surge in gun violence. There were a record 1,288 shootings in Portland last year, wounding 385 people. In 2021, there were 90 homicides in the city, a count surpassing larger cities in the nation. More than 75% of these homicides were by gunfire.

This surge in crime is related to gang activity, but danger from gun violence still gets conflated with homeless populations, even by the Portland Police Bureau, despite data showing homeless people are often victims, not perpetrators, of violent crime.

Street Roots requested PPB stats showing how many instances of gun violence in recent years were perpetrated by homeless people and how many involved a homeless person as a victim. PPB said it doesn't track this information.

How crime and violence unfold is often ignored, an oversight creating barriers to addressing homelessness, Townley said.

"Conflating criminal activity with homelessness leads to treating homelessness as a law enforcement issue, which results in increases in sweeps and arrests of homeless people, which then leads to trauma, the loss of belongings, and creates additional barriers to people accessing services and housing," Townley said.

Indeed, as the false dynamic connecting homelessness and violent crime grows more prominent, so too does the false dynamic claiming a 'defunded' PPB would solve many issues related to homelessness if only it were better funded and more empowered to enforce laws on homeless Portlanders. In addition to Reveal's investigation finding PPB already arrests homeless Portlanders at an incredibly high rate with no evidence showing the practice is beneficial, PPB's budget is actually higher than it was before 2020 - $249 million compared to $238 million.

Unhoused people are unfairly linked to gun crime

The reality described by Townley is absent from the conversation around rising crime in Portland. Instead, common refrains vaguely paint homeless people as frequent perpetrators of gun crime and assault, a false yet prevailing belief now associated with the Old Town village closure, obscuring the consistent mismanagement of the site contributing to deteriorating conditions.

Employees of All Good Northwest filed paperwork to unionize on April 28. In May, the Northwest Labor Press reported employees said rampant mismanagement put the safety of staff at risk, citing OSHA complaints alleging staff were cleaning up blood without proper equipment and blood-borne pathogen training and providing CPR without training or CPR masks.

The Old Town village closure is another chapter in the beleaguered push to alleviate homelessness downtown, an effort marked by deepening division between homeless advocates and some members of business and neighborhood associations.

Some businesses left the downtown area in recent years, partly in response to visible homelessness, rising gun violence and other violent crime. However, it's worth noting recent examples of business losses and closures related to underperformance during the COVID-19 pandemic being falsely tied to other events, such as racial justice protests in 2020.

In the midst of a worsening homelessness crisis, there has been a rise in crime and gun violence, which has hit a peak since the pandemic. This year alone there have already been 670 shootings and 41 homicides. At least nine - nearly 25% - of those killed were homeless Portlanders. In 2020, the murder rate of homeless people in Portland was nearly double that of housed residents.

The surge in violent crime isn't linked to homelessness and it's important for the public to know that, Denis Theriault, deputy communications director at Multnomah County, told Street Roots.

"The community should be clear that people experiencing homelessness in Old Town/Chinatown are far more likely to be the victims of, and suffer the effects of, criminal conduct," Theriault said.

Street Roots is an award-winning weekly publication focusing on economic, environmental and social justice issues. The newspaper is sold in Portland, Oregon, by people experiencing homelessness and/or extreme poverty as means of earning an income with dignity. Street Roots newspaper operates independently of Street Roots advocacy and is a part of the Street Roots organization. Learn more about Street Roots . Support your community newspaper by making a one-time or recurring gift today .

© 2022 Street Roots. All rights reserved. | To request permission to reuse content, email 503-228-5657 , ext. 404 editor@streetroots.org or call

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Homeless people are more likely to be victims of violence than housed people

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For many housed people, there is a tendency to conflate unhoused populations with violent crime and danger, but crime rates tell a different story.

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Solution #2: Treat them as regular humans

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Solution #2: Treat them as regular humans

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"talk to them with sincere interest and acknowledge their value as an individual, you reaffirm their humanity."

"Give homeless people the same courtesy and respect you would afford your friends, your family, your employer. Treat them as you would wish to be treated if you needed assistance." https://ripplekindness.org/10-things-you-can-do-to-help-the-homeless/

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" I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -Maya Angelou

It's Random Acts of Kindness Week and no better time to make someone's day than today! Paying a little kindness forward can make us all feel better. Especially for people experiencing homelessness, a friendly gesture can brighten their day; contribute a sense of dignity; and help them fight the isolation, depression and embarrassment they face every day.

Need a little inspiration? Here are 10 ways you can practice a little kindness to people experiencing homelessness:

Adopt a homeless pet.
Homeless pets outnumber homeless people by a 5 to 1 ratio. Most homeless shelters don't allow pets, leaving people to choose between shelter or giving up their best friend. One animal is put down by a shelter because of a lack of resources every 11 seconds.

National Health Foundation believes individuals experiencing homelessness can more effectively manage their health when they are housed. As a recuperative care provider, NHF offers hospitals a safe place to discharge homeless patients when they no longer require hospitalization but still need to heal from an illness or injury. While in our care, clients receive on-site medical supervision, case management and supportive social services with the goal of facilitating a healthy recovery and moving them forward on their path to housing.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can support our efforts, please email us at info@nhfca.org.

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People Experiencing Homelessness Deserve Kindness, Too

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" I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -Maya Angelou It's Random Acts of Kindness Week and no better time to make someone's day than today! Paying a little kindness forward can make us all feel better.

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"ability to provide housing and social services will bolster both mental and physical health"

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Provides dedicated staff that centralizes efforts to prevent homelessness and coordinates solutions for supportive housing within Butte County. The Housing and Homeless Team, also referred to as H.H.O.M.E. (Housing, Homeless, Outreach, (Case) Management and Education), identifies and helps organize responses to barriers and/or gaps in homeless and housing services, supports the Butte County Continuum of Care as the Collaborative Applicant, Lead Agency and HMIS Lead, collaborates with local jurisdictions and community based organizations and pursues funding opportunities specific to homeless and housing.

Continuum of Care

The Continuum of Care (CoC) is a regional or local planning body that coordinates housing and services funding for homeless individuals and families with the goal of ending homelessness. H.H.O.M.E. provides administrative support to the local CoC.

For more information, visit the Butte Countywide Continuum of Care website.

Housing Navigation Center

The HHOME team will be expanding their services to individuals experiencing homelessness throughout the unincorporated jurisdictions of Oroville, Gridley and Biggs. The ability to provide housing and social services will bolster both mental and physical health of unhoused community members. Through partnerships with community organizations, HHOME will share information on other supportive services that are available for individuals seeking services through the Navigation Center.

DESS South Navigation Center location:
205 Mira Loma Drive Suite 50
Oroville, CA 95965

Center Contact Number: (530) 552-6200

Hours of Operations: Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Email: [email protected]

For more information on available services, please click on the links below:
Navigation Center Flyer [pdf] Navigation Center Flyer [pdf] Map of Oroville Campus [pdf]

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Housing and Homeless Services provides dedicated staff that centralizes efforts to prevent homelessness and coordinates solutions for supportive housing within Butte County.

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"Volunteer at a shelter or with an organization serving the homeless"

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" I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -Maya Angelou

It's Random Acts of Kindness Week and no better time to make someone's day than today! Paying a little kindness forward can make us all feel better. Especially for people experiencing homelessness, a friendly gesture can brighten their day; contribute a sense of dignity; and help them fight the isolation, depression and embarrassment they face every day.

Need a little inspiration? Here are 10 ways you can practice a little kindness to people experiencing homelessness:

Adopt a homeless pet.
Homeless pets outnumber homeless people by a 5 to 1 ratio. Most homeless shelters don't allow pets, leaving people to choose between shelter or giving up their best friend. One animal is put down by a shelter because of a lack of resources every 11 seconds.

National Health Foundation believes individuals experiencing homelessness can more effectively manage their health when they are housed. As a recuperative care provider, NHF offers hospitals a safe place to discharge homeless patients when they no longer require hospitalization but still need to heal from an illness or injury. While in our care, clients receive on-site medical supervision, case management and supportive social services with the goal of facilitating a healthy recovery and moving them forward on their path to housing.

If you are interested in learning more about how you can support our efforts, please email us at info@nhfca.org.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
People Experiencing Homelessness Deserve Kindness, Too

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
" I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." -Maya Angelou It's Random Acts of Kindness Week and no better time to make someone's day than today! Paying a little kindness forward can make us all feel better.

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https://www.streetroots.org/news/2022/07/13/violence-conflated

https://ighhub.org/understanding-homelessness/causes-intersections/stigma-social-isolation#:~:text=Homelessness%20sits%20at%20the%20nexus,visible%20only%20through%20negative%20attention.

https://wraphome.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/R2R-CA-Legislation-01.05.2018-1.pdf