Portland, Oregon has a homeless “problem,” one it is working devotedly to addressing with its 10 year plan (begun in 2005) to end homelessness by 2015.

At the same time, many pundits and politicians feel that resources are going unaccessed or improperly accessed. An often bandied about figure is that the majority of resources devote to homeless support go unused, either because they are unneeded or the incorrect type of support. A Space to Start believes that resources and their access are spatially bound and by understanding this relationship, resources can be better applied in the community. This project seeks to create a better understanding of where specific types of resources are needed based on where the homeless typically engage in daily activities. By utilizing our rich background in ethnographic research, we wish to create a “map” of homeless individuals – where they exist and how they travel, where they go and where they don’t. This will be entered into a GIS map using GPS locations.

This is only half of our dataset, the other half will consist of the locations and utilized rates of the over 95 homeless support organizations in the Portland metro area. We will track maximum support capable of being given along with the amount that is actually given with a particular emphasis on where funding is allocated and where it is not.

By using our combined skillsets – ethnographic research and GIS creation – we will create a visually rendered map mash up that challenges the flawed concept of a surplus of resources. Instead illustrating the importance and specificity of space and its deterministic character in an urban environment.

This will create something useful both by homeless advocates and policy makers attempting to enact Portland’s 10 year plan successfully. It will give everyone a visual representation of their policies in action and enable the better allocations of resources. It will also provide an understanding of why some resources are used while others abandoned.