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Communities struggle to make best use of largest influx of homeless aid in U.S. history Shaena Montanari and Natalie Walters, Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
Winter in Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge is wet and freezing, a life-threatening situation for the area’s homeless residents even without a pandemic. Darcy Long-Curtiss understands that better than most.
The shelter that normally provided nighttime refuge was closed because of COVID-19, and federal aid money meant to help protect homeless people from the pandemic came late and with confusing restrictions. By the time Long-Curtiss got permission to erect temporary shelters purchased with her community’s share of the funding, temperatures already were dipping below freezing. She had just one week to ready the site and make potentially life-and-death decisions.
FAIRFIELD-SUISUN, CALIFORNIA
At a site in Southeast Portland, a crew erects the shelters fabricate by Everett based Pallet in December 2020. Each shelter can be put together in less than 30 minutes with bolts and wrenches. Here, the crew puts on a roof cap. Portland has purchased 100 of these shelters to go up at three organized camps that have had tents and are being winterized. (Hal Bernton/The Seattle Times/TNS)
Tiny, prefab homeless shelters popping up across US
PORTLAND, Ore. Sondra Brown spent four difficult years on the streets, and her struggles for a good night’s sleep did not end even last spring as she moved into a city-sanctioned organized camp in the heart of Portland’s Old Town. There were rats that bit holes in her tent, and in recent weeks, a bone-chilling cold would wake her up a half dozen times a night.