Levy, bond: The time is right to make a bold move

For two consecutive editions of the newspaper Street Roots has called for a housing levy or bond in the Portland region.

Also read: Region must work for affordable housing levy from the Nov 13. issue, and Push for housing levy coming from the grassroots by Amanda Waldroupe.

It’s time to stand up for affordable housing and homeless services in Oregon.

It’s not just about the thousands of people experiencing homelessness in the region, it’s not that simple — it’s much bigger picture than this.

Oregon, like many states around the country is not recovering as quickly as projected from the impact of the recession, far from it.

The unemployment rate in both Portland and around the state continues to hover in the double digits, while estimated hunger rates in the state have skyrocketed. This month U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that more than one in eight Oregon households have struggled to put food on the table over the past two years.

But it’s not enough to say that people are becoming homeless at alarming rates, or that the current economical environment hasn’t affected every sector of our society.

Common folks across the board are dealing with a combination of shaky predictions and risky outcomes that affect the future of their workplaces and families livelihoods.

The combination of job loss and the complex revenue streams that create affordable housing in Oregon has led to serious strains on our system. We would be kidding ourselves if we didn’t recognize as a community that some of those infrastructures are on the verge of breaking — the affordable housing and homeless front is one of them. Which in good times only affects a smaller portion of society, but in today’s climate, affects everyone.

Through our news coverage, Street Roots is able to connect with a spectrum of the nonprofit, foundational and government sectors along with people who are relying on these networks, for its sources. And we’re not hearing good news.

In fact, from everything we’re hearing, unless there’s a cataclysmic turn of events, 2010 is going to be a very hard year for many nonprofits working with people in poverty, and some will fall over.

That’s exactly why right now is the perfect time to build a movement across class lines, and tailored interests for not only an affordable housing stream locally, but nationally as well.

It’s a given that locally we need a bond or a levy for affordable housing for many people to survive. The question is where will the leadership and the funding for such an endeavor come from? Beyond housing and homeless advocates, it will take a broad base of labor, business, and government support to make a bond or a levy successful. It won’t be easy.

Nationally, housing and homeless advocates along the West Coast are standing up in unison to demand that Federal funding for housing and homelessness be returned to its rightful state — $54 billion short of what we spent on housing in 1979. (See page 12).

While many groups are standing up and pushing these ideas, many more stay out of the fight when it comes to building a larger movement for affordable housing and homelessness, and having these kinds of discussions out in the open. We think those times have changed, and it’s time to build a movement that supports all of our needs, as a community and as a society.

Creating a lasting revenue stream locally and restoring federal funding at the national level are the most critical steps we can take to make this dream a reality. Until then, we are fighting a losing war.

Read:

Push for housing levy coming from the grassroots

Housing advocates and policy makers in Seattle are celebrating the recent renewal of its housing levy, prompting renewed efforts in Portland to replicate the funding stream here.

Approved by 63 percent of voters during Seattle’s Nov. 3 election, the renewed levy will generate $147 million in local revenue for building 1,670 units of affordable housing and provide assistance to 9,300 other people through rent assistance and home buyer assistance. The levy taxes the 350,000 households in Seattle about 17 cents per $1,000 of assessed value. The owner of a $450,000 home, for example, contributes $79 per year.

Since its creation in 1981, the levy has generated almost $400 million in local funds, as well as millions in matching federal dollars, says Harry Hoffman, the executive director of the Housing Development Consortium, a trade association of housing developers in Seattle.

“It allows us to leverage county, state, federal dollars and private philanthropy,” Hoffman says, estimating that for every dollar the levy creates in local revenue, three dollars are earned through those sources. Ten thousand units of affordable housing for people who are formerly homeless, elderly, and have little income, have been built.

Without the levy, Hoffman says that the development of affordable housing in Seattle “would pretty much grind to a halt.”

“It makes projects possible,” Hoffman says.

Advocates in Portland say that a local levy could create the same level of activity. But there are no plans to put a similar levy on Oregon’s ballot in 2010. Nick Fish, the city commissioner in charge of the Housing Bureau, says that a levy is unlikely to appear on a ballot for another “three to five years.”

“My sense is that it normally takes up to two years to lay the groundwork, raise the money, get your message across and be successful,” Fish says. “I have limited experience on this. I am open to hearing from the folks who are a lot more smarter about this than I am.”

Many people involved in developing low-income affordable housing are not pleased with Fish’s timeline for a local affordable-housing levy.

“When the Affordable Housing Now! coalition … looked at the possibility of copying Seattle’s success with bonds and levies (in 2002) it was a top priority,” says Michael Anderson, the executive director of the Oregon Opportunity Network. “It remains a top priority.”

“I think it’s critically important that we have a levy, and we have one as soon as possible,” says Bobby Weinstock, a housing specialist at Northwest Pilot Project, which finds housing for low-income elderly people.

Describing the need to develop low-income affordable housing as “dire” and “urgent,” Weinstock cites the 2000 Census, which showed that there is a shortage of low-income affordable housing in Portland by 11,577 units.

“The housing levy gives us a way to eliminate the housing shortage for that income group,” he says. “(It would make) a huge dent in the homelessness issue.”

Fish says that Portland will have to find new sources of revenue that are dedicated to affordable housing.

Until this year, the Portland Housing Bureau’s budget has always been precarious, relying on one-time funding from the city’s General Fund that is re-evaluated during each budget cycle. This year, the Housing Bureau’s budget was completely preserved, even as other city bureaus faced budget cuts of 5 percent or more.

Portland also has the 30 percent TIF (tax increment finance) set aside — revenue that comes from taxes diverted from Portland’s nine urban renewal districts. However, there have been a host of problems using those funds (Street Roots, Dec. 12, 2008). Fish says that in three to five years, that source of funding will no longer be reliable.

In the last legislative cycle, the Oregon Legislature passed a document recording fee, which charges nominal fees for recording real estate documents. The revenue raised from the fee goes toward building and maintaining affordable rental housing.

The fee was a huge victory for affordable housing advocates because it was the first time the state dedicated a source of revenue for affordable housing. But as Fish points out, the source of that revenue — transactions in the real estate industry — is directly tied to the economy.

“In the current recession, it’s not going to generate the money we need to tackle the problem,” Fish says.

“We are going to take a good hard look at additional sources of funding for housing. That means thinking about whether we should pursue a future bond or levy,” Fish says.

However, during his interview with Street Roots, Fish did not give any concrete plans about what those sources might be, except to say that they must be dedicated sources of revenue, although he did express interest in pursuing a levy similar to Seattle’s.

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Even in difficult times, there’s so much to give thanks for — including the newest edition of Street Roots and your friendly neighborhood vendor who is working, rain or shine, to bring you the news. Here’s what’s in the new edition, hitting the streets bright and early Friday morning:

Dylan for the holidays: An exclusive interview for street papers with Bob Dylan about his new Christmas CD. He’s putting all of his income from the CD toward three programs that feed the homeless.

Portland housing advocates consider push for housing levy: Seattle has had a housing levy since 1981, funding thousands of new housing for low-income residents. Amanda Waldroupe pursues the answer to the question: Why doesn’t Portland do the same thing?

Activists mark 10 years since the Battle in Seattle: In 1999, the world convened in Seattle for a week of demonstrations against the policies of the World Trade Organization. A decade on, and activists remember what was remarkable about the event, and the work that lies ahead.

Single-payer advocate says keep the heat on those in power: Jay Thiemeyer talks with Peter Shapiro with Jobs with Justice about his own activism to keep single-payer the goal in health care reform.

Genny Nelson, Sisters’ co-founder, retires: Nelson reflects on 30 years with the organization that brought power to the streets and changed the dialogue around homelessness.

And much more is packed inside 16 pages, all for only $1. Get yours today, along with one for the office.

Thank you!

Money to burn: Measure 66 & 67

Almost from the moment the state Legislature voted to create $733 million in additional revenue by raising the corporate minimum tax and personal income taxes of wealthy people, drama ensued — predictable in a state known for its hatred of taxes.

A group calling itself Oregonians Against Job-Killing Taxes quickly created a campaign and raised $1.2 million to collect enough signatures to refer the taxes — now known as Measures 66 and 67 — to a special election scheduled for January in the hopes that Oregonians would vote the taxes down.

But, according to a variety of sources, there is even more money at stake —  up to an additional $1 billion — if the taxes are voted down, because of their connection to money Oregon has received from the federal stimulus package and other matching dollars.

The explanatory statement for Measure 66 published by the Secretary of State’s office in October acknowledges that Oregon stands to lose federal funds.

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What do vampires, basketball players and fine food have in common? You guessed it! They’re all part of Street Roots inaugural Online Auction! Peruse the pages of the Oct. 30 edition for the gifts that are sure to please — you or anyone else, for that matter. But first, pass a buck to your hardworking neighborhood vendor, who will have the newest paper — along with a smile — early Friday morning. Here’s what you’ll find inside:

Money to burn? If Measures 66 and 67 go down in flames, Oregon stands to lose more than a few local tax dollars. Amanda Waldroupe reports on what’s at stake.

Lose the banks and get back to the barter. Joanne Zuhl interviews economist Thomas Greco on how we need to trash our monetary system and get back to local trade, old-timey like.

Soldiers accuse Fort Lewis of abuse. A report from Seattle on two soldiers with a laundry list of alleged violations against the military.

And did we mention the online auction? Four pages of goodies, big stuff, little stuff, far away places and familiar faces. It’s all for fun, for Street Roots and your neighborhood vendor. Thank you! And let us know your thoughts. We like to hear from you!

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Not much you can buy for a buck these days, except for the finest newspaper west of the Rockies! That’s right! Street Roots is a bargain to you and a big deal to our awesome community vendors, who will be stocked with these great stories bright and early Friday morning:

Where the grass is always greener: World travel host Rick Steves talks about traveling as a political act and how it reflects on his views of the country he calls home, including his views on marijuana. Rosette Royale gets an exclusive interview with a man who might surprise you.

Two honored for work to end domestic violence: Amanda Waldroupe talks with two women who are changing the lives of countless others with their work to end domestic violence.

A measure of justice: Joanne Zuhl interviews Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley on his support of a new bill that seeks to correct egregious gaps in oversight in the Bush administration’s notorious Patriot Act. It would also repeal immunity for telecommunication companies in cahoots with the government to spy on U.S. citizens.

“These are normal blue-collar Americans”: Says Papa Roach front man Jacoby Shaddix, whose own experience with homelessness has had a profound impact on his life.

The torture doctors: A growing chorus of experts and investigators have accused physicians working for coalition forces of hiding the effects of torture, colluding with the individuals responsible and even participating in torturous acts.

And so much more than the mere Web can handle! Find out for yourself, with a smart purchase from your friendly neighborhood vendor. Thank you!

With winter coming, the city explores where people can sleep – legally

From the Oct. 2 edition of Street Roots

Just as the city of Portland, service providers and advocates are seeking ways to allow homeless individuals without access to shelter “get a decent night’s sleep,” a group of individuals has begun camping outside of City Hall, reminiscent of a three-week protest in May 2008.

Gathering outside of Mercy Corps’ Action Center near Skidmore Fountain on Sept. 28, a group of 20 homeless individuals signed a code of conduct, agreeing to not use drugs or alcohol, pick up after themselves and to respect others. Once they were all signed, they took the MAX to City Hall and set up their camping gear to sleep there during the night.

Organized by Art Rios, who was formerly homeless and has been involved with Sisters of the Road’s Civic Action Group, the group is camping outside of City Hall during the night for the same reasons, Rio says, that homeless people protested for three weeks outside of City Hall in 2008.

“Get the anti-camping ordinance suspended,” he says. “It’s about coming to a safe place to sleep for eight hours. We just want a campsite that’s safe.”

A statement released by Rios calls for the creation of safe places for tent cities, campsites and shelter before the weather turns cold.

“They (the city) need to open up more shelters and they know that, but we can show them they need to move it a little quicker,” says Chris Shields, 47, a homeless person who was part of the group sleeping outside of City Hall.

In the last few months, the Portland Housing Bureau and members of the Coordinating Committee to End Homelessness, the committee of Portland Housing Bureau members, advocates, and nonprofit service providers that oversee and implement the City’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness have been considering ways that might address Rios’ and the camper’s concerns.

An informal committee calling itself the Alternative Workgroup, convened by Sally Erickson, the manager of the Portland Housing Bureau’s Ending Homelessness Initiative, has met three times during the past two months, with a narrow focus: think of ways that homeless people who camp outside, either willfully or because they cannot get into shelter, can sleep through the night safely. The work group includes representatives from Sisters of the Road, Street Roots, and several people experiencing homelessness, including Street Roots’ vendor Leo Rhodes.

“It’s in all of our interests that everyone is able to stay warm and healthy,” says Marc Jolin, the executive director of the outreach agency JOIN, who is a member of the Coordinating Committee and the Alternatives Workgroup. “If they can’t get a good night’s sleep, they can’t stay healthy, their ability to help themselves is severely compromised.”

On Sept. 16, the Alternatives Workgroup presented its 13 recommendations to the Coordinating Committee.

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Beat the chill with the hot, hot, hot edition of Street Roots, homemade and hand-delivered by your local vendor. Here’s what will be warming your cockles tomorrow morning:

High-flying Hawk: Skateboard phenom Tony Hawk twists, turns and soars with South African youths

With winter coming, the city explores where people can sleep – legally: Amanda Waldroupe reports on the latest talks by the city and advocacy groups to create alternatives for people on the streets, and the demonstrators who are calling for action now.

Police, “Cops” intrude on St. Francis diners: With a camera crew from the television show, police arrive just in time for the 5 p.m. dinner. Julie McCurdy, the Urban Gypsy, writes from her own perspective on the event.

The beggars come to the opera: Amanda Waldroupe interviews Portland’s Stephen Marc Beaudoin who has reinvented a musical based on well-known Portland personalities.

All this, plus an interview with hip-hop artist Speech, reports on Olympic-sized headaches for low-income renters in Vancouver, a preview of the 2010 census, the ministry of Tex Watson and a crossword puzzle most of our readers should be able to finish! Enjoy!

Return of the dragon – heroin takes over Portland’s streets

From the Sept. 18 edition of Street Roots.

On a sunny Monday during the early afternoon, a 27-year old homeless man only wanting to be identified as “Joe” for this story walks down a hill overlooking I-405 and sits on a piece of cardboard laid out among, bushes, empty bottles and litter. The sounds of cars and buses are all around. Joe takes out a blue bag, unzips it, and takes out a twisted-up piece of white wax paper. Inside the paper is an almost imperceptible amount of a gooey, dark brown substance. Joe says it’s a couple dollars worth of black tar heroin.

“I treat this like a medicine,” Joe says. “Oh shit, a cop just went down the street.” He quickly gets up to move.

“You’re focusing on doing something pretty intricate and you have one eye scanning so you don’t get caught and hemmed up,” he says as he walks down the street.

Stopping at an intersection, Joe looks around. “I think we’re good,” he says. He walks down along a hill overlooking another part of I-405. Tucking himself in between two bushes and setting his backpack next to him, he takes out a needle from a Ziploc bag of 10 he recieved at Outside In’s Syringe Exchange Clinic. Holding it in one hand, he takes the tin cup out of his backpack and puts the heroin in it. He also takes out a small water bottle, puts it on the ground, and puts a red lighter on his leg.

Pulling the syringe with his mouth, he pulls water out of the bottle and shoots it into the tin cup. Holding the cup with a twisted bread tie, he heats it for about 20 seconds with the lighter.

With the syringe’s plunger, Joe mixes the liquid. Licking the end of the plunger, he sucks the heroin into the syringe.

“She didn’t give me a tourniquet,” he says, looking through the Ziploc bag.

He takes off his belt and wraps it tightly around his bicep. His veins begin to pop out, and faintly lining his arm are the scabs and scars from previous injections.

Slowly, he inserts the needle, his fist clenched. But he doesn’t inject. Instead, he moves the needle left to right inside his arm, looking for and missing the much-sought-after vein. Murmuring to himself in pain, he pulls the needle out. A small bead of dark blood follows.

“Maybe there’s something wrong with this needle,” Joe says. “I’m just used to having the tourniquet.”

Swiping the blood onto his fingertip, he licked it off. Every time Joe saw a drop of blood as he poked his arm three more times, he’d lick—not to miss a single grain of heroin.

On the fourth injection, Joe stopped moving the needle. Holding it still for a moment, he slowly pushed the plunger with one finger, staring at the point of entry the entire time, watching until every drop of light amber fluid disappeared into his arm.

He loosens the belt before he lets the needle out. Blood trails down his arm. Wiping his arms with his hands, he licks his fingers.

“Sometimes it turns into a bloody mess and you’re just trying to get your fix,” he says as he uses an alcoholic wipe given to him at the needle exchange clinic operated by Outside In.

Joe says he does not feel that much different after taking the heroin. “This is even for me,” he says, not describing the high any further.

On his way up the embankment, Joe stops to talk to a panhandler sitting at the corner. Crossing the I-5 bridge back to downtown, he quickly walks in the direction of a surplus store, his gait almost gliding.

Joe says he will probably shoot up in another four to six hours.

A growing trend

Dennis Lundberg and Mike Reese rarely see eye to eye. But recently, the outreach worker for the homeless youths organization Janus Youth and the commander of the Portland Police Bureau’s central precinct have found common ground on a unlikely topic: the rise of heroin use in Portland.

Heroin use, Lundberg and Reese say, ebbs and flows in Portland with the seasons. Summertime is when the presence of the drug reaches it peak, coinciding with the presence of a seasonal homeless population frequenting downtown. As the weather cools and dampens, the amount of heroin declines as some youths leave town.

BREAKING NEWS: Homeless campers release statement

A group of around 20 individuals experiencing homelessness released a statement tonight about the protest in front of City Hall.

“We are here tonight to show that this is the only campsite that is safe inside the city of Portland and that we really need places that we are able to go for the night and know that we are going to be safe. By safe, we mean that we’ll be able to pitch a tent or sleep in a shelter or live in a tent city without harassment from the police.”

The statement goes on to say that individuals experiencing homelessness need more access to services, including emergency shelter year round. The group also asks the city to allow for another tent city within the city limits of Portland.

In July of last year, Street Roots’ Amanda Waldroupe explored what another tent city in Portland might look like.

In May of this year, Street Roots called for another tent city as a possible alternative in an editorial titled, Another Dignity Village? Why not?

Currently, the city is looking at several alternative proposals surrounding camping, including allowing for another tent city. The camping ordinance itself is currently being challenged in court by the Oregon Law Center. In August, a district judge gave the green light to a group of homeless people in the class action suit after the city tried to have it thrown out of court.

Read more about the protest and alternatives the city is exploring in the next edition of Street Roots this Friday.

Posted by Israel Bayer

BREAKING NEWS: Homeless people camp and protest once again at City Hall

For the second time in less than two years, a group of homeless people are camping outside of City Hall to protest an ordinance they view as criminalizing and stopping them from getting a good night’s sleep.

Beginning at 9 o’clock this evening, 20 individuals set up their sleeping bags and other belongings along the southern side of the front entrance of City Hall. Art Rios, who is organizing the protest, says that the people are camping this year for the same reason as they were last year.

“We want the anti-camping ordinance to be suspended,” he says. “We want a campsite that’s safe.”

The anti-camping ordinance is a city-wide ordinance that bans camping on public property. Homeless people and many advocates says the ordinance criminalizes homeless people who are forced to sleep in public spaces at night because they do not have access to shelters or other places to sleep.

For three weeks during May 2008, a group of homeless people ranging in size from 40 to 120 people protested and camped outside of City Hall to protest the anti-camping ordinance and the sidewalk obstruction ordinance (known as the “sit-lie” ordinance), which illegalized sitting or lying down on the sidewalk during the day. In June 2009, that ordinance was ruled unconstitutional by Judge Stephen Bushong in district court.

Rios says that he plans to have organized camps at City Hall Monday through Friday, 9pm to 7am. That, he says, is enough to get eight hours of sleep, but also will not “interrupt City Hall’s business,” as well as get the attention of politicians, advocates, bureaucrats and the public.

“I want to show the City…that a camp size of 10 to 15 people can be here and not bother their day to day process,” Rios says.

There is currently a sub-group of the Coordinating Committee to End Homelessness, the group charged with implementing and overseeing the City’s 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness, that is currently looking at ways for homeless people who do not have access to shelter to sleep outside at night. The group is hoping to some of those proposals in place in the next three to six months. Rios is skeptical.

“I hear about all these proposals, and there is no action happening,” Rios says.

Check the October 2 edition of Street Roots for more information about the City’s efforts, as well as more information about the protest.

By Amanda Waldroupe

Loss of low-cost housing routing poor from downtown

Affordable housing for Portland’s poorest residents has declined significantly in the city center, even as more high-end housing increased.

According to the Central City Housing Inventory, released in July by the Portland Development Commission, the city center lost more than 22 percent of its lowest income housing options, but gained nearly 12 percent more in the number of units for higher incomes.

The result, according to those in the business of placing people in affordable housing, has been a shift of poverty from the central city area to outer parts of Portland and Multnomah County.

“Here in mid-county and in east county we are seeing an increasing number of people seeking low-cost affordable housing,” says Jean DeMaster, executive director of Human Solutions. “And we believe part of it is the lack of housing in the central city areas and the decrease of housing in the central city area.”

The sources interviewed for this article all point toward a growing trend: the displacement of low-income people, who can no longer find affordable housing in the central city, to other parts of Portland and Multnomah County.

The increase of people looking for housing in eastern parts of Multnomah County has been happening for the last three or four years, DeMaster says, but Human Solutions saw a “marked” increase in the last six months, corresponding with the deepening of the recession.

The inventory, published every three years, monitors whether or not the city is adhering to its “No Net Loss” policy. Passed in 2001, the No Net Loss policy establishes that the same number of rental units available to people earning 60 percent of MFI or below in 2002 would remain the same through preservation or replacement. That number is 8,286.

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Thanks to all of you who wrote in about our vendors lately. We’ve known how great they are for years, and it’s good to hear it from their customers, too. So, if you haven’t talked to your vendor lately, you’ve got a great reason to swing by tomorrow morning. The new edition of Street Roots hits the pavement around 9 a.m. Friday. Here’s what’s inside:

Motel limbo: Some of Portland’s motels hide a troubling side to homelessness. Becca Robinson reports.

Loss of low-cost housing routing poor from downtown: Amanda Waldroupe reports on the latest figures on housing in the city’s center, and how services are looking beyond for affordable options for the poor.

Who’s raking the muck? Joanne Zuhl interviews Harper’s editor Ken Silverstein, who lays out his brutal vision of modern-day journalism.

HUD’s hopes for the future: HUD Secretary Shawn Donovan cut his teeth on homeless issues with the National Coalition for the Homeless. Now, homeless advocates want to hear how he will apply what he’s learned.

Plus more news, a new column by vendor Leo Rhodes, letters to the editor, and lots of attitude in between. Let us know your thoughts, and as always, thanks for your support!

Posted by Joanne Zuhl

Precinct shuffle brings new faces, attitudes to Southeast

From the July 10 edition of Street Roots

One month since the Portland Police Bureau’s June 11 consolidation of inner southeast Portland into Central Precinct, no one is quite sure what lasting effect the consolidation will have on policing in inner southeast Portland.

“In terms of service delivery, there’s no change,” says Central Precinct Captain Mark Kruger.

Officers formerly reporting to Southeast Precinct are continuing to patrol the same geographic area they patrolled before the consolidation, but they are now part of Central Precinct.

That is a relief to the neighborhood advocates, who will take as much time as needed to praise their neighborhood officers for the work they do in the largely residential area comprising inner southeast Portland. (The boundaries are the Willamette River, Burnside Avenue, 39th Avenue and the Multnomah/Clackamas county line.)

“We have worked really hard to build up relationships,” says Valerie Chapman, the pastoral administrator of St. Francis of Assisi Church. “Officers know who people are and who we are, and what people need.”

But the consolidation presents another challenge to St. Francis, which provides lunch and a day center for the homeless: How to work with the police as they begin to more strictly enforce the city’s anti-camping and no-structures ordinances, sweeping homeless people and their camps.

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The cool breezes call for a cup of joe and a seat outside of your favorite café with your favorite newspaper. The new Street Roots comes out tomorrow morning and your friendly neighborhood vendor will be standing sentry with all this in his or her hands:

Balancing act: Ted Wheeler wants to talk about urban renewal areas. Here’s why you should listen. Joanne Zuhl interviews the Multnomah County chairman.

Precinct shuffle brings new faces, attitudes into Southeast: Amanda Waldroupe explores what it means for Central Precinct to assume authority over Portland’s Southeast neighborhoods.

‘This is a bigger issue:’ An interview by Israel Bayer with City Commissioner Amanda Fritz on the latest decisions surrounding sit-lie and street access.

The eye of the beholder: From the Great Depression to modern day, ‘Hobos to Street People’ showcases artists’ interpretation of poverty and homelessness.

And so much more that 16 pages can barely hold it all. But we did it again – all for the price of $1! So pour a tall one and support fair trade by picking up a copy of Street Roots.

Posted by Joanne Zuhl