Welcome to the story.
We're starting today on NE 33rd
near Marine Drive in Portland.
Because, yeah,
we're going to talk about the homeless,
but this is a different homeless story
than the type you're probably expecting.
This one has a happy ending, at least so far.
A woman who used to live here was
able to get off of this street,
and it's in part because of the
help of our reporter Blair best.
Blair joins me now.
I know that you've interviewed a lot
of the folks here and at other camps.
What made a difference with this woman?
Well, I've spent a lot of time
on this stretch specifically.
And this is one of the
largest camps in the area.
A lot of people living here have
been here for three to five years.
And when I talk with the people out here,
I always ask them,
how did you end up here and what's
stopping you from getting off the streets?
And I met this one woman back in July,
and there was just something about her,
this, this urgency coming from her,
that she wanted to get off the streets.
She just didn't know how.
She just needed help and she
wasn't getting that help.
And she just stuck with me ever since.
Is there something I I'm,
I I'm missing and I don't know.
I can't think of what it is. Ohh keys.
Can't lose my keys out here.
You just get to the point where.
You don't even care.
It's a mindset, one that has slowly
worn on 50 year old Tara Pietro Monaco.
For nearly three years she's lived
in this broken down trailer on
the West side of NE 33rd Drive.
You know you don't have anything
to organize your things with.
You don't have your a stable environment.
You don't know if you have
to pick up and leave.
That's been Tara's reality since
we first met her back in July.
I need your help. She was stuck in the chaos.
When I don't have gas
in my generator. Yeah,
I sleep in my car. Because the
rats. Hey, Kate, Cliff,
we need to push this car over there.
Whoa, and pushing to get out.
Hey, go forward.
This lifestyle wasn't her choice.
It's something she fell
into after leaving prison,
where she did time for identity theft.
I've just been having a hard
time getting back up on
my feet again four months after meeting her.
Not much had changed.
I think of, like, forgetting
something, but I don't know what.
Dozens of people just like Tara,
searching for a way off the streets,
are getting into transitional housing
through the help of outreach workers
that join a Portland nonprofit.
We meet people where they are.
And warehousing first, a few years ago,
Anthony Robertson's team at join
a partnered with Kevin Kavanaugh.
He runs a real estate company,
Guerrilla Development.
We make the buildings
that you see around town.
They're also doing something different.
Building apartment buildings like
this one in Southeast Portland,
specifically for homeless people
living in the city.
It's impossible. To to to ignore
the homelessness crisis,
affordable housing crisis.
So because we make buildings.
We are on the front lines of the problem and
hopefully the solution too.
The building has 10 rooms.
When we were there only
nine of them were filled,
so we told join about Tara.
Tara agreed to meet us.
Do you know, joy, do you know about joining?
Have you heard a joint before?
Kind of. You were talking earlier.
Maybe there might be an opportunity
to help you into a place,
into an apartment that you
could afford just on your SSI,
on your Social Security,
while you're waiting, while we're
working on the subsidized housing thing,
which might take a year,
could take multiple years, right?
But instead of being outside for all
that time for a year or two years.
You might be able to get you into
a place like a studio apartment
kind of situation.
That would be awesome.
We managed
an apartment complex. That
they're kind of SRO's a little bit,
but it's a cool place.
That's an SRO single room occupancy.
So it means you would get like
a bedroom, but it's a house
where everybody shares like a common
kitchen space and everybody shares like a
couple bathrooms and showers. There's.
Nine other residents, you would be
the 10th resident. It's mixed male
and females, primarily women.
With my boyfriend be able to stay with me.
Sometimes I can leave you the information.
It's all in here, including Elise.
Yeah. So it's moving.
Ready basically. If you want,
I could pick you up tomorrow.
That we can that be awesome, yeah.
And no pressure, like, but
if you see it, you like it,
you can have it, you know?
You can move in there.
Yeah, I can give you keys tomorrow. Cool.
Yeah, alright. Well,
I'm gonna leave this with you. OK.
If you want to just there's you know,
input the information into
the lease sign where it says
resident and then when I pick
you up tomorrow. So I'll be
down here tomorrow around 4:30,
alright, alright, give me a hug.
OK. We'll get you out of this cold and wind.
Yes. And thank you. Yeah. And pink. Yeah.
It's like a fresh start
in a lot of ways, Tara.
You know, it's like turning the page
and getting a fresh start, you know?
Awesome. Thank you so much.
OK, I will see you at 4:30.
It doesn't usually happen that fast.
My heart went out to her.
Yeah, I saw somebody who desperately
wanted a change in their life and
who appeared to be rather stuck
in their situation.
It was 415 the next day. Ohh.
I need that too. We caught up with
Tara before the outreach team arrived.
I've been thinking about it.
I'm just like going.
Am I really gonna be getting
off the street again?
How's it going? Going good.
Good. Can I help you move some stuff?
I don't know what to throw in it right now.
I'm. I'm just overwhelmed a little bit. Yeah.
Be ready for a lot of transition to happen.
There's gonna be a lot of emotions. Yeah.
I'm following you out.
But something was holding her back.
Hey bro, I'm not leaving you.
Tara's brother is also homeless.
I promise I'll be back.
We're ready to go. Yeah, OK.
I'm in the black Jeep
right there. 30 minutes away.
Was a warm bed and the stability
she'd been searching for.
Hey Tara. Hey, how you doing?
Alright. Excited.
Yeah, a little overwhelmed.
I'm excited for you to,
like, sleep in a new place,
you know? Yeah,
400 miles without getting cleaned.
Hey, we're going upstairs.
That's the key. Room 10.
What do you think? It's warm.
Yeah, like. Like it's nice.
So here's the bedding. One thing,
I'm gonna have to try these two.
It's quiet. Yeah. A silence almost
deafening Charlie compared to the cacophony
of the streets and the world she left behind.
You got your key.
Tara had a lot of keys.
I stick it on here.
That way I don't lose it.
But she made room for one more.
Adjustment.
Wow. Well, certainly a promising
beginning, how to go from there.
So that same night that she moved in,
she actually came back to her campsite
here to check on her brother,
who you saw in this story.
A lot of times out here, things are
pulling people from staying into housing,
whether it be addiction or family or
community that they have on the streets.
And she was a prime example where she had
a brother who she didn't want to leave.
And that's a big fear of people.
A little taste of housing.
And they're like, no, I want to get back out.
It's such a dramatic change.
Yeah, she's been here for three years,
right, to now go into that small,
you know, heated, nice room.
It's, it's not as easy as you would think.
And it happened very quickly.
Well, before we go down to that,
she did come out here, but then
she's back in her housing, right?
Yeah. So I was told she came back that
same night and she stayed out here for
two more nights and then came back on a
Monday and she's been there ever since.
We actually went and checked on her.
Two nights ago, and she was
there very promising. Yeah.
How did this happen so quickly?
Yes. So this is kind of rare.
It doesn't normally happen this fast.
You know, sometimes caseworkers
have to go back to these camps,
sometimes 10 times to gain trust,
build a relationship with these
people so they ultimately,
you know, decide to trust them
and go with them into housing.
And, you know,
I think in part that it was so quick
was because I had already been making
that relationship with Tara since July,
I've been checking in on her.
I've been talking with her.
So I think that relationship
piece was speed up a little,
but there's also the factor of
availability for affordable housing.
That room was open and ready
for her to move in.
And that doesn't always happen.
It was just the timing really aligned.
Yeah, it was
unique and yeah, but both you were ready,
you had her in your mind and she
was ready to make a difference,
which none of this would have
happened if she wasn't ready,
right. She was very ready.
And it was you know,
the the season was changing.
You saw in in the story that the wind
was blowing, it was getting colder.
She was at the point where I don't
want to do another winter out here.
I'm done, and I'm just so grateful
we could help her get to that point.
Yeah. What's this been like for you?
Yeah, this has been really an
emotional meaningful process for me.
I've never done anything like this before,
right. We we report on these problems
all the time and and the crisis,
but we never really get to follow
through a solution to the very end.
At least I haven't.
And she stuck with me,
like I said, since July.
And I am so grateful for the
relationship that we have
and her trust in me and I'm.
I'm also grateful for joining,
for their willingness to
welcome me on this process.
And ultimately make a difference.
I know it's just one person off the streets,
but. When I repeat and go back to her
and and interview her, it's like that's
a problem. The fact that I can keep
coming out here and know that I can
talk to Tara, right? Yeah. So through
my work, if I can actually make
a difference and get her off
the streets, that's ultimately
why we do this, right? You can't
help them all.
But you definitely helped her.
Well done. Thanks. Nice going.
And we'd love to hear your
thoughts about Blair story.
Send an e-mail to the story at
kgw.com or give us a phone call,
503-226-5090.