"Dear Portland" puts faces to the city's housing crisis
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
From left, "Dear Portland" curators Davey Schaupp, Madeline Iem and Michael Larson. Photo: Meira Gebel/Axios
A new immersive exhibition exploring the causes and faces of homelessness in Portland and efforts to address it opened over the weekend, using first-person stories and local data to examine the city's housing crisis.
Why it matters: The organizers of "Dear Portland" said homelessness is often discussed in statistics and political talking points, not the human stories and sense of shared responsibility that can influence better public understanding of the issue.
- "Our biggest hope for this exhibit is to help people see clearly, to feel deeply and then to move towards action," Davey Schaupp, the director and producer, said.
Context: A collaboration between Humans for Housing and Stelo Arts gallery in Old Town, the exhibit runs through April and is intended to function as both a retrospective and a community space, featuring a rotating slate of events including nonprofit-led programming, themed discussion nights and more.
- It's the organization's first physical exhibition and builds upon its 2024 documentary "No Place to Grow Old," which focuses on the struggles of homeless Portlanders age 55 and up — the fastest-growing demographic of people entering homelessness.
Zoom in: In "Dear Portland," visitors move through three main rooms: a data-driven overview of Portland's housing shortage over seven decades, a story room featuring first-person accounts of life on the street, and a space to learn about local organizations and write letters to local leaders.
- The team was inspired by the National Building Museum's touring exhibition "Evicted," based on author Matthew Desmond's book of the same name.
- Madeline Iem, Humans for Housing's education director, said she reviewed dozens of peer-reviewed studies and worked with local and national housing groups to vet the information for the exhibition.
Between the lines: The exhibit is clear-eyed about how housing policy has failed to keep up with population growth.
- Yes, but: It also points to "upstream and downstream solutions" like expanding rental assistance and investing in permanent supportive housing and behavioral health care as proven prevention models.
The bottom line: Schaupp said "Dear Portland" is essentially a love letter to the city, but "love demands accountability."
If you go: "Dear Portland" at Stelo Arts (412 NW Eighth Ave.) is open Thursday through Saturday, noon-5pm, through April.