Go inside 24 hours of Portland’s homeless crisis | ‘One Day’ documentary

bye [Music] good morning portland scattered showers once again and temperatures on the cool side mid-40s out the door and only mid 50s this afternoon watch out for a hail shower as well a safe rest village for the home is set to open as soon as next month in multnomah village could be the first of six in portland [Music] president biden is expected to discuss infrastructure when he visits portland oregon later today the white house says biden will talk about his efforts to quote continue bringing down costs for american families [Music] uh good morning everybody it's 5 50. i got breakfast sandwiches hot coffee got some decaf good morning good morning everyone i've been in this shelter from the beginning when it first opened i'm 60 years old i'm the oldest one in here this shelter actually is you don't understand this shelter is a royal palace for me even though we are sleeping in a mat i call this a twin bed not not a mat but a twin bed okay let's go this is our everyday routine every day this is what we do by six o'clock i have to be out of here because my schedule is at seven o'clock let's go i have to hurry up and go to work this could be in pearl district there's a lot of empty apartment it's just too expensive for other people to afford it i work for a rite aid and i'm a floor supervisor that is a regular nine-to-five job i don't look like i'm homeless but i am [Music] we serve our outside guests at 6 30 and so i get their meal ready first my name is april o'connor and i'm a breakfast chef at blanche house oops it's like i'm a witch with my very own square cauldron i like to be able to say that i feed hundreds of hungry people every day we'll serve about i want to say over a thousand meals a day me personally you know i'm i've been through homelessness before this is what the volunteers will scoop from when they're on the line dishing up for service all set up over there hopefully at five minutes it seems like there's a huge crisis at the moment the need of a lot of people right now two minutes apple oatmeal and donuts coffee with cream and sugar in it good morning here we are i think it's an increasing problem that people don't know what to do about people don't know what to help people don't understand the complexity of the roots of the problems more and more people are slipping through the cracks so that's what we're here for [Music] we're in portland we're on 102nd woodstock we call it the gravel pit different areas have different names but this is the pit you know this this ain't nice nobody wants to live like this my name's kimmy murray and um i'm 53 years old and i'm homeless i'm vision impaired and disabled me and my husband alone have put in hours to get help from different agencies churches you name it we're doing the footwork we have an income but you see where we are if i'm not 55 not pregnant don't have a kid under 18 or a major drug addict in treatment or going through mental health i can't get no help my family can't get no help really we just get up and the wife and i pray in the morning and just kind of get a fire going to warm up because it's usually pretty chilly out in the morning this tent was given to us by a friend because um somebody ransacked our other one and then we did it my husband got it set up and then it started flooding so a friend of ours um gave us a case of really huge diapers and we have them down on the floor soaking up the water as you see no matter what we're sticking together so yeah it's it gets hard the city looks at the homeless problem as a nuisance as an inconvenience you know because the rose city you know roses died too when i lost my home my rose wilted it hasn't died yet because i'm not giving up there's something out there for me for my family [Music] two three there we go not know if if the city told them to move or or what but they're definitely not here so we're cleaning another mess you can make the neighbors happy too we need a shovel guy we pick up about six thousand pounds a day between five and six thousand pounds every day quarter million pounds of your garbage in the last three months i'll pull it right there we'll take that stuff right there we'll load up right down there it's tough these days we got a lot of homelessness and i don't see it going away anytime soon we clean an area and two weeks later i'll be cleaning to the same area so um it's it's an ongoing problem i don't know what the answer is but um we're just trying to help them out rock in the middle over the rock through the woods you know we got to become some kind of housing for them okay let's put all the tools in there and let's rock and roll just gonna go straight and i'll back out that truck and go to the dump i don't know all the answers but we got a lot of work to do want to get your shoes on brush your hair oh you want me to brush your hair now okay are you good at sharing do you know how to spell your name her name's skyler she's five whenever i'm having a bad day she come around and like mom i love you you're my best friend like it just makes me so much better about my day i'm tiana i'm 26 years old and this is the tiny house that moves and then this is my bed where i sleep and there's where we drive and everything the kitchen you know it's not the biggest but then i got bunk beds over here this is where skyler's bed is and it's where we keep our laundry usually the first day i got it the oven door kind of fell off so we haven't been able to bake anything we have a microwave and a stove but it's not like like i'd love to bake a tater tot casserole or a pizza or something we were in a neighborhood where the neighbors didn't really like us because you know sometimes they get kind of mad about people in their rvs and stuff and i told them the first night we pulled up there they came out i said i'm pregnant i'm working i'm clean you know i just want a nice quiet place to sleep please i won't cause you problems if you don't cause me problems but eventually i mean we got our windows shot out we had neighbors come out like a gang of them against us and we're like telling us you know we'll pay you to leave i'm like okay fine we're going like i didn't even want the money i didn't even get the money i just left like out of their way okay it's impossible to find anywhere to stay without one neighbor getting mad at you we're getting on the freeway sometimes it would be nice to have like a more permanent home for water and power and all that it's a little rough sometimes yeah we used to live in an apartment but she calls it a compartment she tells me she wishes we could go back to our compartment you miss it yeah [Music] so today we're doing a community wellness fair which is something that we kind of just started as a pilot project in lentz neighborhood in the fall we bring resources out to the community so we have food haircuts do you want to do it really quickly sure my name is crystal delahanzi with pdx saints love i really like um being able to have personal conversations how long have you been um in a car without a home i'm gonna cut this gentleman's hair i know when i was living outside i um i struggled off and on for years so how long have you been um out of prison i got released on july 8th of 2019 and then i got certified as a peer wellness specialist so i get to give back to the community that i've taken away from right right so my life stories just kind of um kind of started out a little bit rough my mom was married to somebody who physically abused me rather than continue to endure abuse i just started running away yeah during that time i got addicted to just any kind of drug i ended up outside i lost my house i lost my job i've been clean and inside for 10 years now i had to come back out and just tell people like there's hope and like we can do something different looking good definitely possible and um and just worth it appreciate it so basically we load everything up in the morning and we come over and we get everything set up it's kind of quite a process make sure everything's running and the showers are hot i got temperatures it's steamy it's really warm yes it works perfect we clean everything disinfect it get it all ready for people you know there's people that haven't showered for a year you know that come to us and and so amazing to look at their faces when they walk out of the shower you know they're like a new person you know washing away all that stress and the life that you know unfortunately some people have to be in my nickname is blue i've been homeless for 11 years i don't ask for anything you know but this is the thing that matters is that i get a shower and a hot shower it gets me ahead i'll get the lights going for you well i feel like a key yeah good i love it thank you [Music] my name is richard bruno i'm the senior medical director for primary care at central city concern being without housing can be really difficult to maintain and keep your health up so a lot of folks who struggle with diabetes for example don't have a refrigerator to store their insulin in a lot of folks who have chronic wounds in their feet are made worse because they're kind of walking around in shoes or socks that haven't been uh that may be unhygienic this is looking good back here it was really painful for a while man do you have any feeling in your toe here um i'm more now you can feel a little bit more yeah but not at the tip a lot of folks will come see us because they hear that we can provide services with low barriers to entry we have you know walk-in clinic we have a lot of substance use services and mental health services that people can get same day 90-day stay or 6660 days day rcp yeah so the rcp stay is basically for your feet uh and that was just to kind of keep you out of the hospital make sure you have some place stable right so you can heal and make sure we're seeing you regularly for that wound care and then after that yeah you won't need like the medical housing really our team here will help you okay we'll talk about all your options we'll try and get you into some housing for folks who are really struggling right now we really believe that being able to provide this type of care to people where they may have been turned away from other organizations or been let down by a health care system that has a lot of holes in it we help kind of fill those holes and we help kind of lift people up and it really is a really rewarding thing to do president joe biden will stop at portland today to tout federal infrastructure spending my name is susan lind and i'm thinking maybe you should come down and see how some of these people are living i might check my check one two one two mike check mike jackson you guys hear us yep i hear you this is a live picture from the air national guard base at pdx where air force one is landing as we speak maybe you know it would bring a little reality to the situation this of course is president biden's first visit to oregon since taking office he'll talk up the big one trillion dollar package he signed into law last fall these people have no other place but to be here and it looks like the president is on the ground now he will be leaving momentarily from pdx he will be heading to a private fundraiser at the portland yacht club on northeast marine drive this area really has been filled with police secret service all day long and looky loos some were excited to see him others also said that they hoped biden would see the reality that so many portlanders are familiar with when it comes to homelessness in the city people who live around here specifically mentioned that they hoped the president would pass the area of marine drive and 33rd avenue an area known for its homeless camps by the heck out of me that there's this belief that we can't do big things anymore but we can it's just really hard it's rough you know anything's possible in america anything's pot and that's what we're exactly we're going to do today do what we are capable of doing stop feeling sorry for ourselves get the hell up and take this country back in a way that we lead the world again because we can do it i mean it there's nothing beyond our capacity god bless you all and may god protect our troops thank you thank you thank you [Music] [Music] foreign it's great being a part of this this community uh i think that this community here in chinatown is really special this is laundry we're a vintage sportswear boutique we specialize in jerseys teamwear t-shirts snapbacks caps that type of thing i may be one of the the last or one of the few chinese business owners in this neighborhood i'm chris i'm the owner of laundry this spot has been and i won't say a curse but you know there's been good and bad this is a neighborhood that is known for high-end street wear it's known for celebrities but it's also known for crime drug addiction mental illness some of the juxtapositions that you see in this neighborhood this is i think even a little bit more than a machete as you can see this gentleman was brandishing this in the parking lot one day um striking cars and just swinging it around there needs to be like some standard of safety right i think that this idea that uh that more liberty equals more empathy is flawed i think that um the amount of liberty um that in some cases we give to people is is apathetic because all we do is we hang them out to be hurt to suffer the breed of houselessness that we see in this neighborhood is drug addicted people don't want to see suffering you know people suffer enough i don't think people understand how hard it is to to live this kind of life even if it's by by choice you know what we're describing is choice um the uh the amount of pain and and suffering and and exploitation and just nastiness that we see out here is just it's sad there's this feeling that if you can stay alive in chinatown you can make it and you can grow and that what you're doing is working fire northeast davis street in northeast martin luther king boulevard to the northwest corners the transit camp on fire ultimately you know we sign up to help people in their time of need it's not our emergency but it's the person who's calling it's their emergency so we take that to heart we are there to always help this vast truck eight you calling copy my name is mike dunn bernstein i work for portland fire number one what's the address of the emergency six delta breathing issues southwest nato parkway burnside bridge i would say the bulk of the calls definitely ems medical responses for the most part and that does include the houseless population our call volume is not sustainable in its current capacity the call volume the call types it is stressful as much as we want to help it is a very stressful job 313 on a 4210 delta chest pain issue but i don't believe it's sustainable the call volumes aren't sustainable and ultimately what these people that are experiencing houselessness need is is not a fire apparatus they they need stable housing or they need health care coverage they need mental health um rehabilitation drug rehabilitation 23 charlie accidental evidence nice strike i guess in a broad sense is an event an opportunity for a community to come together and serve our house's population so we try to at least make nice strike a place where once a week they have a community they can rely on and they'll get things that they need but they also can see their friends my name is anthony georgette i'm a staff volunteer here at night strike what do you think about a beanie or something or a hat we get people that you know they're sleeping in tents on the side of the street we also get people who you know money is extremely tight by extremely tight i mean they're getting help just so that they can pay their rent and have shelter but they don't even have money for clothing foot washing station is exactly what it sounds like right so we make sure that the guest has everything that they need to go from you know the dirtiest feet that you've ever seen to the prettiest feat that they've ever had in their life having someone be able to come to your level and do something that might seem demeaning to you but they take it and make it just it's normal and you deserve that just as much as anyone else people are trying they just need the help for whatever reason maybe they're suffering with addiction maybe it's a mental health crisis i don't know and to be honest when i'm here i don't really care because what what i see is somebody that needs underwear for instance that's what i know and if that can help them get through the next week a clean pair of underwear and help them get an interview so they can get a job so they can start supporting themselves that's what i'm here for i'm dan linzen co-owner at dixie tavern watch your feet yeah there's always something going on something unique colorful a lot of the services that help people that are in crisis or homeless they don't operate what we operate [Music] we then have to be the ad hoc services to help a lot of folks we see it as part of what we have to do to be a neighbor it's like they're all part of our community my name is cameron i'm the head of security here the dixie cavern yeah 11 years i've been out here how you feeling okay how you doing good all right good is it working a little better now [Music] tune it again i worked for a cascadia behavioral healthcare i was a residential counselor a couple years so the training there i think has been instrumental in like kind of how i approach different situations and understanding coming from a place of understanding and working my way backwards you know more mental health hang on hey hey stop it all right brother me okay was that your tarp do you want do you need that back you just want to be left alone domestic kind of dispute right there between a guy and a girl girl punched him in the face and took his tarp and ran off seems like that that well's running dry you know it's hard for everybody out here but i feel like it's something that we could we could i'm optimistic so like i remain optimistic 911 what is the address of the emergency need to get an ambulance this gentleman here that's uh having a heart attack we do have medics being discussed by my partner right now we are the safety net for the houseless population my name is siobhan gray i'm an emergency physician at legacy good samaritan it's easier to come into the emergency department to get medical care we can provide medical care but not comprehensive medical hair care i was having chest pains really bad and needed to call 9-1-1 but somebody took my phone it was brand new and i like i said had recent heart attacks so i think i might maybe had another i don't know but that's why i wanted to go to the hospital he is an example of a typical patient they've had multiple hospitalizations but they also have no housing they will come to the er very frequently i was referred by social services in vancouver and ended up getting stuck up there to a shelter and the shelter sent me back to the hospital the hospital back to the shelter and it's just been crazy he has had two recent admissions this month and in addition to that has had about 150 ed visits over the last year i'm an amputee so i'm completely disabled i can't really get around and i have an infection in my other foot it's so hard you know i mean amputations heart surgery strokes you know all these really significant medical issues and then you know not having any reliable follow-up or the ability to follow through with the follow-up you're provided is it makes it very challenging i don't know i'm just hoping to talk to maybe some type of a staffer social worker at the hospital that can tell me what my best options are it feels broken it feels like we don't have a good solution or resources and it's not how we want to provide medical care and what these patients deserve but it's the system that we are in [Music] one day portland will have to return to balance we have to find some common ground and i think that one day we will one day i'd love to be able to see supportive housing for anybody who wants it walk the day in my shoes my husband's shoes getting told you're scum your dirt get a job blah blah blah because a lot can happen in one day really you wouldn't believe it especially you know when people band together to help each other we could get a lot done in one day one day i'm gonna i'm gonna have my own home a job a car and i'm gonna actually be somebody one day i would take off and you will never see me homeless again [Music] [Music] you

Channel: KGW News

Views: 1,621,365

Keywords: portland, homeless in portland 2022, homeless in portland oregon, homeless in america, homeless people, homelessness, portland oregon, portlandia homeless, homeless portland oregon, portland homeless 2022, portland oregon homeless video, portland oregon homeless crisis, homelessness in america, homeless crisis, portland homeless, portland homeless problem, homeless in portland, portland homeless news, homeless documentary, homeless people in usa, homeless people stories

Id: sxbGmqfmfBE

Length: 28min 45sec (1725 seconds)

Published: Thu May 19 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/Deerok632OFA]

The woman in the RV with her daughter made me tear up a little. I can’t imagine being in that position with my 6 year old son

[u/Juhnelle]

Not sure if anyone has seen this yet, but it was actually pretty good. I feel like I need to be reminded sometimes that homeless people are individuals with individual stories and you can't just lump them all together. Kgw's stories seem much better than koin's "is portland over" or whatever it is.

[u/ormailbox1]

While this is has gotten out of hand in Portland especially. The disparity between classes, rise in inflation and housing costs has squeezed many good people from their homes. S Dr. I listened to on a OPB radio broadcast with 32 years experience studying homelessness postulated "That it would cost 30 Billion Dollars to provide services and housing to rectify the homeless problem in Portland alone... per year."

I think many people would be surprised at how many disabled, previously homeless, D.V. victims, and many other classes of folks we do house in Portland. There are skyscrapers full of what were or would otherwise be homeless folks here in our great city. Sponsored by personal generosity, the state and others. Downtown, Loyd Center Milwaukee, Rose Quarter, just to name a few have saved thousands of folks. And that is not even to mention a big contributor assisting these folks and that is the State of Oregon Welfare and Oregon health Plan. A staggering amount of people helped each day by those agencies.

BUT DID YOU KNOW THIS? Many, many of the people you see on the street homeless today are not even from our state?? Midwest states East Coast and Southern are giving out vouchers for bus rides and food to those Just released from prison?? Those without homes to release to are give three options Seattle, Portland or Los Angeles and a free ride to start with nothing as long as its not in their state.

I didn't make this up. the next time one of these brave reporters, or counselors goes to interview folks in one of these camps inquire about where they are from. The answers will blow your mind. My information is a couple months old but in 3 camps at varied locations in Portland 90% of those stated they nor most of the folks in their camp were not even from here. This is a BIG DEAL and no one is talking about it. If the "Powers that be" want to do something to affect the problem investigating this demographic and addressing the issue with the States that pawn off their problems on Oregonians would be a great place to start.

By the way. Well produced edited documentary. It took courage to go out and interview these folks only to find that you didn't need courage at all. Most of them are nice folks in an overloaded bog of a system. All you really needed was empathy.

[u/Snushine]

I caught a part of that and I was actually impressed. They didn't sensationalize or victim-blame the folks they interviewed.