Right 2 Survive

Land not jail! Legal camping now!
Right 2 Survive banner demanding the right for people without adequate shelter to legally obtain adequate shelter. Southwest corner of SW 4th Ave. & Washington St.
(The abandoned building is the former home of the Greek Cusina.)

Working to empower the houseless and disenfranchised, and to oppose abuses of power by government.

Right 2 Survive meets every 2nd & 4th Thursday from 5-7pm at Sisters of the Road Cafe.

Right 2 Survive is a Portland-based advocacy organization focused on improving conditions for homeless people, and those who are at risk of losing access to adequate shelter. The group's main focus is on "working to empower the houseless and disenfranchised, and to oppose abuses of power by government." Pointing out that human beings that are denied adequate access to the basic means of self-care suffer deleterious health consequences, both physically and psychologically. Adequate means for self-care includes a stable and adequate dwelling place situated in a stable and hospitable community, proper nutrition and a productive role in the community.

Methodology

Organizationally, Right 2 Survive recognizes that traditional do-gooder agencies with a mission to serve the homeless community have failed to slow or stop the societal conditions that purposely rob the poor and defenseless to further enrich those who already have more material wealth than they can responsibly use. Instead of simply accommodating the prevailing social, political and economic ideology that views a homeless person as someone who "fell through the cracks," is "down on his or her luck," suffers from a substance abuse problem or a physical or mental health condition or otherwise fails to conform to mainstream values, R2S views the prevailing ideology the root cause of the dysfunction that produces unsheltered people. In that context, R2S prefers direct action to establish ad hoc tent communities and shanty villages in order to quickly provide safe, secure refuge for homeless people, including the adequate medical, meal preparation and sanitation facilities allowing them to care for themselves and each other.

Low-Cost Shelter

• Better Shelter

The Better Shelter is a temporary 17.5 m2 light weight, modular emergency shelter. It meets the basic needs for the activities of basic living, for privacy, security and familiarity. It is a safe base offering a sense of peace, identity and dignity. The shelter can easily be dismantled, moved and reassembled and adapted to different needs and areas of use. And though it may be humble, it is somewhere even the most vulnerable people on earth can call a home away from home, developed together with UNHCR and the IKEA Foundation.

• World Shelters: We Make and Give Shelter

World Shelters designs, produces, and delivers structures for both emergency response and long-term humanitarian needs. Our shelters are low-cost, durable, flame-retardant, and designed for ease of assembly and transport.

Mobile Shanties

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Camper Bike!

• Wide Path Camper

Wide Path Camper’s unique shape and hardshell exterior provide a cozy feeling inside and a safe place to store your belongings. With a Wide Path Camper you can enjoy the freedom of taking your bicycle cargo camping trailer, shelter, solar energy source, and social space with you wherever you pedal.

• A micro houseboat that you can tow with your bike

Bicycles, in all their human-powered glory, can have a number of neat accessories attached to them. Saunas, micro-campers and other clever towable shelters are some of the possibilities available to cycling enthusiasts. But this portable micro-houseboat by Royal College of Art graduate Daniel Durnin takes us by surprise: it's light, small and yes, it floats.

• This foldable bicycle camper lets you live comfortably on the road

The Danish entrepreneur Mads Johansen has created “The Wide Path Camper,” an astoundingly light camper mounted on a bicycle trailer. The camper is made of fiberglass, weighs a mere 45 kilos and can be folded to half-size making transport easy. “The Wide Path Camper” has two face-to-face sofas and a pull-down table. At night the sofas flatten to form a double bed large enough to sleep two people and a small child. The camper also comes with an optional solar cell for charging mobile phones and other small devices. The tiny mobile home costs around 15,000 Danish kroner (approx. $2,500). It is also possible to rent it, as of right now only in the town Sønderborg, that’s located in southern Denmark.

• Bike Trailer (Several plans and pics.)

• PNCA student creates mobile houses for homeless, called 'Bootstrap Homes'

“I woke up with this idea for modular housing, constructed by the people who lived in it that would work for people who had inadequate housing.”

• Home in the Weeds

Home in the Weeds, examines the idea of shelter as a safe haven for a future worst-case scenario as well as more optimistic notions of home and self-preservation.

• Everyone Deserves A Roof (EDAR)

EDAR (Everyone Deserves A Roof) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides unique mobile shelters to homeless men, women and children.

• Camper Kart is a Tiny Home That Pops Out of a Shopping Cart

The Camper kart is portable home that boasts a cozy-looking bed, a lantern and even storage space. The earth-friendly shelter is made largely out of recycled materials that could potentially give the world's less fortunate a sheltered, private space in which to lay their heads at night.

News & Info

• Why we need social housing in the US | Matt Bruenig, The Guardian | Thu 5 Apr 2018 06.00 EDT

An influx of publicly owned, efficiently built apartments would add to the housing supply while minimizing the displacement risks caused by luxury developments.

• In 83 Million Eviction Records, a Sweeping and Intimate New Look at Housing in America | By EMILY BADGER and QUOCTRUNG BUI APRIL 7, 2018 | New York Times

The new data, assembled from about 83 million court records going back to 2000, suggest that the most pervasive problems aren’t necessarily in the most expensive regions. Evictions are accumulating across Michigan and Indiana. And several factors build on one another in Richmond: It’s in the Southeast, where the poverty rates are high and the minimum wage is low; it’s in Virginia, which lacks some tenant rights available in other states; and it’s a city where many poor African-Americans live in low-quality housing with limited means of escaping it.

• The Shockingly Simple, Surprisingly Cost-Effective Way to End Homelessness

We could, as a country, look at the root causes of homelessness and try to fix them. One of the main causes is that a lot of people can’t afford a place to live. They don’t have enough money to pay rent, even for the cheapest dives available. Prices are rising, inventory is extremely tight, and the upshot is, as a new report by the Urban Institute finds, that there’s only 29 affordable units available for every 100 extremely low-income households. So we could create more jobs, redistribute the wealth, improve education, socialize health carebasically redesign our political and economic systems to make sure everybody can afford a roof over their heads.

• I’ve been homeless 3 times. The problem isn’t drugs or mental illness — it’s poverty. By Veronica Harnish

Society's message to the homeless is abundantly clear: You don't matter, because you don't have money. There are so many ways to get down on your luck, or become homeless, and so few means to escape. Economic inequality and a system built to perpetuate it is the problem — homelessness is the result for people without a safety net. A rising economic tide doesn't lift all boats — it merely drowns the poor. It's understood that most people in life aren't going to be high-wage earners on par with doctors and lawyers, but that doesn't mean working people should have to live on the streets or in vehicles.

• Trump turning US into 'world champion of extreme inequality', UN envoy warns - Friday 15 December 2017 13.45 EST, Ed Pilkington, The Guardian

Special rapporteur Philip Alston, fresh from fact-finding tour, issues devastating critique of US society and condemns ‘private wealth and public squalor’

• A journey through a land of extreme poverty: welcome to America - Friday 15 December 2017 02.00 EST

The UN’s Philip Alston is an expert on deprivation – and he wants to know why 41m Americans are living in poverty. The Guardian joined him on a special two-week mission into the dark heart of the world’s richest nation

• Report: 80 Homeless People Died on Portland Streets in 2016 - Dec. 14, 2017, at 7:09 p.m.

A new report says 80 homeless people died on the streets in the Portland metropolitan area last year, adding to a tally of more than 350 people who have perished while homeless in the past six years.

• Instead of Trashing Homeless Camps, This City Is Providing Them With Trash Pickup

Oakland tries a new approach to helping residents of encampments.

• You are here: A snapshot of Portland-area housing costs

How much it costs to live here – and who pays. 7 things to know.

• Portland's Dignity Village: Thirteen Years Later

Since opening in 2001 Dignity Village has been an inspiration to many, and has attracted delegations from throughout the world.

• Micro-communities: Solution to homelessness?

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN 6) — Tiny homes have popped up all around Portland, and soon, micro-communities may become a common sight as well. Just 200 square feet and built for only $12,000 each, these tiny homes would rent for as little as $250 a month. “These tiny houses are really the wave of the future. That’s how we’re going to answer our question of low-income housing,” said Michael Withey with Micro Community Concepts.

• No Safe Place: How Cities Are Making It Illegal to be Homeless

Tonight, thousands of homeless people in the United States will face the possibility of arrest because they do not have a safe place to sleep. Thousands more could be arraigned for sitting or standing in the wrong place. While they must sleep rest their legs, homeless people live in cities where these and other life sustaining activities are against the law, even though shelters face a critical shortage of beds.

• Laws Targeting Homelessness Have Increased Dramatically Across the Country

A new report finds these laws are being passed with wide voter approval.

• How I lost my middle-class life

"Recently I read an article in the New York Times Magazine by Dominique Browning, the former House and Garden magazine editor who lost her job when the magazine folded in 2007. Like “The Bag Lady Papers,” a recent memoir by Madoff victim Alexandra Penney (forced to “scale back dramatically” by, among other things, cutting her maid’s hours), it was one of those “how I lost everything and discovered what’s really important in life” stories the media is so fond of these days.... This is not one of those stories."

• 'I've Built Robots': Homeless People In Poignant Video Remind Us It Can Happen To Anyone

Six states have a homeless population surpassing 6% of total population.

• The Lives of America's Homeless: An oral-history project documenting some of the least heard people in American society: those with no permanent address.

• Across U.S., a record number of homeless school-age children

• It Saves Millions To Simply Give Homeless People A Place To Live

It is cheaper to give homeless people a home than it is to leave them on the streets. That’s not just the opinion of advocates working to end homelessness, nor is it the opinion of homeless people themselves. It is a fact that has been borne out by studies across the country, from Florida to Colorado and beyond.

• Utah man builds micro shelters for the homeless

Micro-Shelters for the Homeless (Video)

Right 2 Eat Too

• How to build My 50 Dollar Greenhouse

See Also

• Right 2 Dream Too
• Hunger Strike for Housing Justice
• Sisters of the Road Café
• Sisters Of The Road
• Precious Daughters Messenger Van
• Potluck in the Park

External Links

• Official site

Advocacy Organizations

• WRAP: Western Regional Advocacy Project

Books

• Tent City Urbanism: From Self-Organized Camps to Tiny House Villages

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