Join us this Sunday, April 16th at 4pm for Greater Greater Portland, a production of Portland Radio Project, diving deep into the issues involving the Portland Metro Region. Listen live at 99.1 FM in the heart of Portland – or online anywhere at PRP.fm.

This episode of Greater Greater Portland might be our most challenging yet. Primarily because, while this podcast has normally focused on transportation and urbanism, this will be the first in a series on homelessness, housing, addiction, and mental health within the Portland Metro Area.

Hosts Xavier D. Stickler, Bradley Bondy, and Jenna Deml start with an introduction on the current mood of the Portland Metro population, and the prevailing dominant narratives regarding homelessness. Then they break them all down, from the issue comes from the character to those in charge, to there simply being a shortage of housing, to there is an outright conspiracy afoot. Some having more factual basis, relevance, and humanity than others.

Next, they discuss the current frustrations regarding the crisis and theories for how we reached this breaking point.

Concluding the episode, the three hosts put forth their aims for this series. For one, to help provide a better framework for navigating this conversation, have accountability mechanisms for those involved (ie. homeless people, elected officials, non-profits), and also propose actionable solutions.

 

Sources and further reading

Tri-counties release 1st count of Portland area’s homeless population since 2019

Homeless Residents Got One-Way Tickets Out of Town. Many Returned to the Streets

Five Myths About Homelessness in the Portland Area

Quora: Why are there more homeless tents around Portland compared to Seattle when there are more homeless people in Seattle?

Homelessness in the United States

Autistic people at greater risk of becoming homeless – new research

 

Researched, written and hosted by Xavier D. Stickler and Bradley Bondy

Produced, edited, and co-hosted by Jenna Deml

Thank you to Lynn Stanek for sponsoring this episode.

Jenna Deml
Latest posts by Jenna Deml (see all)