City officials Thursday revealed the first three locations for the city's six planned "safe rest villages," or sanctioned outdoor shelters for unhoused Portlanders. The much-anticipated announcement comes months after the idea was first pitched by City Commissioner Dan Ryan as a way to address what he refers to as a "humanitarian crisis on our streets." "We need to meet our houseless neighbors where they are and provide the shelter and services they deserve," Ryan said.
Everyday Heroes: Andy Olshin s Cascadia Clusters and a new vision for the homeless Stuart Tomlinson, KATU Staff
He is the founder of
Cascadia Clusters, a nonprofit that trains homeless people in construction skills by building their own tiny houses.
His vision is to take disorganized, sometimes dangerous homeless camps and turn them into something much more. -
A few years back, Andy Olshin was working with houseless folks in Hazelnut Grove, on North Greeley in Portland.
Together, they turned a soggy group of tents into 22 sturdy structures, and Cascadia Clusters was born as a vehicle to create transitional housing.
“After a while we got pretty good at building these houses and we had Portland youth build from Benson High School and Congregation Beth Israel and this church and that church,” Olshin said.
Hazelnut Grove should be celebrated, not destroyed
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Hazelnut Grove, a self-governed tiny home village located in North Portland with about 15 formerly houseless residents, is under threat of being torn down, dispersing the people who live there.
Although Portland promises to keep residents together, it only offered them about half of the spots in the new tiny house village in the St. Johns neighborhood which is only enough spaces for about two-thirds of the Hazelnut Groves residents. This leaves the residents who do not choose to move there no choice but to be thrown back into the temporary sheltering system, after living in stable conditions for years.
Flower, pre-rolls, edibles, carts and more.
These 4 Days of 420 are for you.
A Myanmar protester stands before a line of military officers. Hkun Lat / Getty Images
Good morning, Portland! Hopefully yesterday s boost of Vitamin D has made the first day of March feel less like an ominous reminder that it s been one whole year since COVID-19 hit Oregon and more a suggestion of sunny days ahead. If you can, try to get outside today and look at the tiny flowers popping out of the ground. Now, for the news:
- A $15 minimum wage mandate is no longer part of President Joe Biden s stimulus package before Congress. While the proposal passed the House of Representatives Saturday, Senate Democrats axed the plan Sunday, concerned that the Republicans distaste for giving Americans an (almost) living wage in the middle of an economic meltdown would undermine the entire budget package.
by Alex Zielinski • Feb 26, 2021 at 3:01 pm
A pathway through Hazelnut Grove. Alex Zielinski
After a week of mixed messaging from City Hall, Hazelnut Grove residents have received some good news: The city will not be cutting its current services to the North Portland tiny home village in the foreseeable future.
That means the city will continue to provide trash pickup, porta-potty services, and an on-site storage unit to the village, which occupies a triangle of city-owned land between N Greeley and Interstate. Perhaps of most importance to the 17 formerly houseless residents who call Hazelnut Grove home, this also means the city will not be removing the chainlink fence that runs along the perimeter of the property and provides a sense of security to the villagers.