PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Barbara Weber used her lived experience to tell Portland city councilors how important it is to fund and continue to expand micro-villages such as the Safe Rest Villages that provide case management and social services in a step toward permanent housing.
Weber said she “came to live in Portland with my aunt and uncle. As a teenager I chose Portland to be my home. Like everyone else, I had the same basic needs food, water, shelter, clean clothes, and sleep. And sleep is the essential, one of the greatest challenges people experiencing homelessness face. Before I moved to Hazelnut Grove, I lived in every home situation — under a tarp, in a doorway, in a tent, on a sidewalk, in a vehicle, in the woods.”
District 2 Councilors ‘finding lane’ in new Portland government
Portland city leaders are struggling to figure out how to make a dent in the homeless crisis when the financial forecast — and a looming $93 million budget deficit — looks grim. On Tuesday, a city council committee heard from the public about what they think is needed.
And what they heard is not what Mayor Keith Wilson wants to hear…