Eugene Oregon has the highest rate of homelessness of any city in the United States. While there are a number of factors that contribute to this seemingly insurmountable issue, from drug addiction, lack of education, mental illness, we still believe that it is an issue that can be overcome. Like every problem in our lives, a solution has to start somewhere, and in this case, we believe that it must start with community organizing.
'People who are homeless are not social inadequates. They are people without homes.'
— Sheila McKechnie
Community organizing not only creates a sense of belonging and empowerment to people who are currently without a house at all, but it also creates an opportunity for an open dialogue that allow other people to hear their stories and see them as human beings, dialogue that allow other people to hear their stories and see them as human beings, instead of being criminalized and dehumanized by outdated laws and false narratives. This is what we tried to achieve when we spent three days at Washington-Jefferson Park in Eugene.
After hearing about the tension between the people who live inside the park and the residents in the surrounding neighborhood, we decided to spend three days to see if progress could be made. On the first Sunday we learned about the problems from neighbors and park residents. On the next Saturday, we started our day by talking to the residents of the Washington-Jefferson Park in detail about potential solutions.
It was both refreshing and saddening to hear their voices and narratives, their tone shifted from joyous to distressing when some described their loving childhood in comforting homes compared to their current living situation now. We asked them if they would be willing to have a community meeting with their neighbors from the houses surrounding the park on the following day, so not only can they hear these stories, but also talk about how they can promote a healthy relationship together. While some people took time to think about it, they all eventually agreed to show up. Consequently, we spent the other half of the day talking to the neighbors who lived in the surrounding houses and apartments again.
While some people quietly listened and nodded their heads about our plan, some neighbors did have opinions and stories they wanted to share. Some were quite unhappy with the sight of litter and drug use, and generally blamed it to the residents of the park. Some truly believed that the park residents were not the problem at all, and agreed that an open dialogue was necessary for a better relationship and future. Sunday morning comes, and we arrived at the lively Washington-Jefferson Park, as the sound of music and the smell of BBQ that the church group put on flew through the air. We were fortunate to talk to some of the church organizers, one of whom used to live in the park as well.
Finally, the meeting began. While there were not many people from the neighborhood who showed up, we still had great conversations with the residents of the Washington-Jefferson Park. We asked them about their opinion on how to improve the current situation, from maintaining clean sidewalks and tents, neighborhood wide relations, to a potential exit strategy — an alternative to what the city had been planning (moving them further from downtown).
One of the residents, Anna, was very enthusiastic and involved in the conversations. At the end of the meeting, she mentioned that her handicapped husband, along with many other people, were frustrated with the lack of maintenance in the site, as falling leaves and mud had been accumulating on the sidewalks to the point that it was too slippery to walk on. Especially going to port-a-potty in the middle of the night. So, we decided to go to a neighbor’s house, and asked her if we could borrow one of her rakes. She had a half-a-dozen. Even though the neighbor declined, they still had a decent conversation and dialogue with each other.
At the end of the day, Anna got her rake, and we believed that we took the first step of many to improving neighborhood relationship through community organization and clean up. We bought her a rake and it made her gasp with joy. It made her day, if not her week.
Having done thousands of hours of community organizing in my day, the way that it works in this case is that it is very cumulative, and the effectiveness from week to week goes up rapidly but not at the first meeting.
'Community organizing is all about building grassroots support. It's about identifying the people around you with whom you can create a common, passionate cause. And it's about ignoring the conventional wisdom of company politics and instead playing the game by very different rules.'
— Tom Peters
That is, this first meeting is just the tip of the iceberg, i.e., there is only a tiny bit of collective functionality, a sense of belonging and positive identity that comes from it if any. Subsequently, you give a write up to all about what a great meeting it was, and people start to think about what they might have missed, where they can fit in, what decisions might have been made or be made without them and what key opinions are missing — then they will want to get involved. Usually, not a lot of opinions are missing. In fact, there is a lot of repetition, but get people signed up to do talks and start to embrace the new culture of accountability and cleanliness. Eventually, the iceberg floats higher and higher until most of it is exposed.
Now many folks are contributing, raking the sidewalk, cleaning up trash and litter, and talking to each other about common guidelines and etiquettes “we have agreed not to do that,” which will be continuously fostered by the previous discussions and agreements. This eventually can lead to more feelings of mutual accountability, most importantly to each other — “Hey Joe, we told the neighbors that we wouldn’t make that much noise,” people helping those having health difficulties, making dinner for each other, and setting standards for healthier living, including tent management, noise, and litter.
The next thing to do in Eugene, like everywhere else, is to find local community organizers to help with community-wide relations, help the tent community itself and its inhabitants, and to plan for an exit strategy. “How are we going to interface with the City so that they will listen to us?” This is how — by getting organized.
This story is about empowerment. People talk a lot about what is needed is structural change of one kind or another — as if that is going to happen from the entitled down, and whatever “structural change” means. Those big changes do not happen in the U.S. and too many are waiting for structural change. Change in America happens at a glacial pace — one state law, one city resolution, one meeting at a time and one march at a time. But it does happen if we get organized. Change will happen for homelessness in the U.S., but it will keep getting worse until people get organized. Not just to create demands, but to practice initiative, to be a part of the solution themselves, and to march.
There is so much potential there. Yes, we should clean up the camp; yes, we should take care of each other; yes, we should make the neighbors feel more comfortable — but then march to Salem, the capital of Oregon — all 10,000 of you plus supporters. It worked for gay pride, it worked for civil rights and languishing in the mud will not work for you. It is completely wrong that the good city of Eugene should suffer the brunt — for trying to be helpful. Every city in Oregon should be required to have at least one decent community (see A Solution to Homelessness in Your Town). Instead, people flock to Eugene away from where they grew up to get a decent meal on Sunday morning.
There are amazing groups of people in Eugene doing amazing work for people who are experiencing homelessness. It is mostly crisis work, medical emergencies, and donations, to keep people from starving, freezing, and dying which is happening all too frequently. What is needed in addition is more global organizing. One rake at a time, one march at a time, and then soon these cries will be heard, and acted on — but only if we can find some community organizers to help.
Thank you,
Chuck & Nadthachai