“Portland’s brick-and-mortar small businesses have been on the front lines of the city’s houseless crisis, said Sarah Shaoul, founder of the small business advocacy group Bricks Need Mortar, which has about 100 paying members.

“With the severe conditions of mental health issues and drug-affected behaviors prevalent with those living on our city streets and inadequate and underfunded services to assist these people, small businesses have been left on their own to maintain safe, clean and welcoming streets on a daily basis,” she said. “Bricks Need Mortar members care for the well-being of those living on the streets and often provide water and other essentials, while proactively directing houseless individuals to resources. Our small businesses are deeply committed to community and see our houseless as members who deserve full access to services that will give them an opportunity to turn their lives around.”

She added it’s important not to criminalize the houseless and noted more needs to be done to address the root causes that push people to the streets in the first place. That includes providing adequate funding to groups that provide housing, mental health services and addiction treatment through in-house facilities and emergency response on the street.”