Demonstrators on Ashland Plaza call for compassion for those without shelter
By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news
On the same day the U.S. Supreme Court took up the constitutional validity of Grants Pass’ laws regarding homelessness and urban camping, roughly two dozen Ashland residents took to the Plaza to rally in support of housing.
On Monday afternoon,Avram Sacks, longtime volunteer coordinator for the city of Ashland’s severe weather shelter, stood along East Main Street and held up his sign in the shadow of City Hall. His hopes for the demonstration were to raise visibility and understanding within the city.
“I would like the city of Ashland to see there’s a lot of support in this community for treating our homeless population in a good way, with respect and compassion,” he said. “Criminalizing, in my opinion, does not help. (Criminal) records make it harder to get jobs and housing,”
Jay Van, standing near Sacks, said this isn’t the first time a situation like this has happened in the United States.
“It was called ‘Hoovervilles.’” People banded together and created their own little Hoovervilles and that’s happening now,” he said in a reference to substandard housing during the Great Depression.
Jason Houk, organizer for nonprofit Southern Oregon Jobs with Justice, held up his own sign a few steps away. Houk said he was happy to see people take time from their lives to support the cause of homelessness and housing on a Monday evening. He also expressed a hope for visibility for the need for both housing and compassion for those without homes.
“The housing crisis is so evident now you can’t avoid it. … The Supreme Court decision could be a catalyst, a decision that says that housing is a human right,” he said. “How we’re treating our houseless residents now is cruel and a violation of our basic values.”
Supreme Court justices heard arguments Monday in Washington, D.C., on the question of Grants Pass’s laws on public camping and whether or not the city’s law constitutes cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. The court’s decision is not expected for months, according to a report by Jefferson Public Radio.
It’s the most significant case before the high court in decades on the issue, and comes as record numbers of people are without a permanent place to live in the United States, according to an Associated Press (AP) story on the oral arguments. The story added that in Oregon, a lack of mental health and addiction resources has also helped fuel the crisis. The state has some of the highest rates of homelessness and drug addiction in the nation, and ranks near the bottom in access to treatment, federal data shows.
Houk said SOJWJ will be tossing its hat into the ring for the request for proposals from the city of Ashland for a third party provider to manage both the severe weather shelter at 2200 Ashland St. and the city’s dusk-to-dawn (or night lawn) sleeping area behind the council chamber building on East Main Street.
He expressed disappointment with both the city’s interim city manager and police chief for taking a “hands-off approach” to the sleeping area and, he said, the resulting dangerous situation for those sleeping there. Houk said he and others with the organization have managed shelters long enough to hope to have something to offer to meet the needs of both spaces.
SOJWJ was recently awarded a little over $11,000 through City of Ashland grant funding. The funds will support the continuation and expansion of the organization’s free community meals program known as “Peace Meals.” Houk said he was a little nervous to wait on Ashland City Council’s final decision on the funds because his organization and the city’s governing body “haven’t always seen eye-to-eye” on issues such as access to Pioneer Hall. But the award of funds will make a difference as the organization attempts to address not only the housing shortage but the food insecurity that goes along with it.
Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at morganr@ashland.news.
April 23: Credit to Oregon Public Broadcasting changed to Jefferson Public Radio, which originated the report.
Related story: City staff: Help needed if city is to continue helping the homeless (April 16)
