Systemic Change is Necessary 

Street Books is a bicycle-powered, mobile library serving people living outside and at the margins in Portland. Since 2011, Street Books has provided books, reading glasses, and other survival supplies to create relationships and a community of mutual care. Over nearly fourteen years, we have seen the suffering and displacement of our library patrons first-hand and have witnessed the failure of our city and the system at large to ensure that they have a safe place to live and the resources necessary to thrive. It’s clear that allowing people to be unhoused is the result of systemic factors and policy choices.  While we are deeply committed to our work, we recognize that it is not enough—we are working against longstanding systems that prioritize the well-being and status of some at the peril of everybody else. Direct services are not enough. We must work together for structural change and for safe, affordable housing for all people. 

How Did We Get Here? For the last 40 years, the federal government has slashed affordable housing budgets. This decrease in affordable housing has caused a predictable rise in houselessness. Housing and rent prices have soared while affordable housing has become increasingly scarce. Rather than address the root causes of houselessness in constructive ways, states and municipalities have enacted a growing number of laws criminalizing basic survival. If you live outside, basic things like sleeping, sitting, and going to the bathroom become criminal acts. As the number of people without housing has increased dramatically, so have efforts to hide poverty using targeted policing and policies like sweeps. The trend to criminalize and punish poverty gains momentum as the evidence of it becomes more visible. This move away from compassion is cruel, counterproductive, and expensive. Houselessness is not inevitable. And while the nuts and bolts of good policy can get complicated, the general idea is very simple: Get people into housing. Then provide them the necessary services, including food assistance, medical care, addiction treatment, wrap-around services for those who need it, and social support. Our current system fails to do this. In the words of Dr Martin Luther King: 

Capitalism does not permit an even flow of economic resources. With this system, a small privileged few are rich beyond conscience, and almost all others are doomed to be poor at some level. That’s the way the system works. And since we know that the system will not change the rules, we are going to have to change the system.

 At Street Books, every library shift is dedicated to empowering people through access to literature and building a community of support for people living outside through a shared love of books. We love this work, we love our library patrons, AND we are not content to bicycle to library shifts every day without asking why there are so many people on the streets in the first place. Our city/state/nation has the resources to offer safe housing to every person who needs it. We’ll continue to work in solidarity with our patrons until everybody has a place to call their own. All we want is a dignified life for everyone. All we want is everything.

 What Can You Do To Help? 

  • Get to know your houseless neighbors.

  • Learn about the history of houselessness in the US and read books (We recommend The Sum of Us, by Heather McGhee, Poverty, by America and Eviction by Matthew Desmond,Without Housing: Decades of Federal Housing Cutbacks, Massive Homelessness and Policy Failures, by Western Regional Advocacy Project )

  • Learn about policies in Portland that impact houseless individuals, and get involved: Write to city council and the county board, testify, write op-eds, etc. 

  • Learn about organizations in Portland working with unhoused folks and on policy. Get involved–volunteer, donate, etc (Street Roots, Ground Score, Hygiene for All).

  • Advocate for humane treatment of our houseless neighbors. Reject cruel policies like the sweeps.

  • Choose action over despair (as we learned in Let This Radicalize You, by Mariame Kaba and Kelly Hayes). These changes will not happen overnight. 

  • Hold your elected officials/candidates accountable. Questions to ask: Do you think housing is a human right? What are your plans to make sure everyone has access to affordable housing? Do you support sweeps? Do you support jailing people simply because they are houseless? Do you support eviction representation? How do you intend to address the unsustainable cost of living in Portland? What are your plans to increase the stock of affordable housing in Portland? How will you work with other agencies (state, federal, etc.) to solve this problem?