HOMELESS IN A RECORD BREAKING SUMMER
Experiences and stories working with unhoused Oregonians in the summer of 2023. New laws and the highest temperatures in state history shaped how people living outdoors adjusted.
Rachawna Lee takes a rest at the cooling center in Gresham, Oregon. Lee said everyone at the center had been getting along very well. She has been working with the shelter staff, Cultivate Initiatives, as an intern in social programming.Temperatures reached over 100 degrees four days in a row, with a year-record high of 108 degrees in the Portland metro.Bobby Todd Mitchell runs the clothing and toiletry station at the Gresham, Ore., cooling center. "The worst part is telling people at 8:00 they need to go. It's still over 90 out there at that time," Mitchell said. Unlike a typical homeless shelter, most cooling centers could not hold people overnight.Mattew Kennedy lets his dog, Juno, take a break in the grass outside of the Beaverton cooling center. Kennedy was using 10 gallons of water a day to cool down his dog and cat, who live with him in his van that lost A/C two days prior. A man in Portland shakes out a pair of jeans outside of his tent in the Old Town district. Jeff Zumwalt rises from his bed at Opportunity Village in Eugene, Oregon. Zumwalt became homeless due to several conditions keeping him from working. He came to Oregon from Southern California to take care of his mother before she died.Mark, a resident at the old Opportunity Village site in Eugene, Ore., moves a speaker across the site. Opportunity Village started moving to a new location further from a busy road and with more space for supportive housing.Delanya Clarkson stands outside of her home at Opportunity Village in Eugene, Oregon. Clarkson had a legal dispute over prorated rent with an apartment leasing agency and was evicted for other things that would not have mattered to them if she didn't win the first case, Clarkson said.The new Opportunity Village site in Eugene, Oregon. Opportunity Village provides permanent housing for Eugene residents without homes. Residents work at the village to keep operations and programming running as part of the terms for staying.
