Dr. Norweeta Milburn and Earl Edwards from UCLA share their recent study with co-authored with California Policy Lab colleagues Dean Obermark and Janey Roundtree: Inequity in the Permanent Supportive Housing System in Los Angeles: Scale, Scope and Reasons for Black Residents’ Return to Homelessness. A key finding shows that Black residents were 19% more likely than White residents to return to homelessness from permanent supportive housing in Los Angeles County. The higher rates of homelessness and inequitable outcomes mirror trends across the country. The researchers talk about the reasons behind the results, which are also outlined in their report.

When Portland State University instructor Kacy McKinney got the idea to create a series of comics featuring PSU students with lived experiences of homelessness and housing insecurity, her goal was to change the narrative around homelessness. The project—which has blossomed into a 80-page printed comic collection and three gallery showings—has done that and much more.

Becky Straus and Emily Rena-Dozier co-run Oregon Law Center’s Eviction Defense Project, which provides free legal help and representation to anyone facing an eviction in Oregon. Straus is the Managing Attorney for the EDP and Rena-Dozier supports and mentors legal aid attorneys statewide on housing law cases. In this episode they talk about illegal evictions, the need for representation in an unjust system and their work to help all those who need it. Tenants facing eviction can reach their team at (888) 585-9638 or at oregonlawcenter.org/eviction-defense-project.

In this episode we talk with Julia Delgado, the vice president of the Urban League of Portland, about the higher rates of homelessness for black residents, historic lack of access to housing and services and how that inspired the Urban League and other culturally specific providers to get into housing.

In this episode, we talk with Jessica Mathis and Calvin from Welcome Home Coalition, a group of organizations working together to advance the idea that everyone deserves a place to call home. Mathis is the regional organizer and Calvin is an advocate. They talk about the speaker advocate program, and the value of hearing and connecting to people with lived experience of homelessness. And why that’s key to effective public policy.

In this episode we switch it up, and Dr. Marisa Zapata is the one answering the questions about rates of homelessness, affordable housing, and how to help those living unsheltered. Community leader and housing advocate Shannon Singleton gets to ask the questions that many community members have. She is the former executive director of JOIN, a local nonprofit that provides street outreach and housing placement support to individuals and families experiencing homelessness.