PORTLAND! and other updates

A weekend in PDX, and some small victories across the country

Hi friends! Lots of little things to share this week, so hang with me.

Portland, Oregon!

In a few weeks, I’m returning to PDX to do some events!

On Saturday, April 12th, I’ll be leading my favorite workshop at All Saints PDX from 3pm-5pm. If you’re in the area, DO NOT MISS IT! It’s highly interactive, and I promise you will leave with a better grasp of the issue of homelessness and how to respond to it. Also, it’s FREE and there MIGHT be some LIGHT REFRESHMENTS!

The following day, I’ll be preaching at Camas Friends Church in Camas, Washington. I’m working on a special Palm Sunday reflection, so don’t miss it! Worship starts at 10:30am.

Lastly, I’ll be doing some hangouts and low-key things that weekend and the days preceding, so if you’d be interested in meeting up with some other local folks and me, shoot me a message!

Small Victory in Fremont

A few weeks ago, I published this piece:

They're coming for the helpers now

It’s an audio conversation with my friend Aaron Horner who does amazing work addressing homelessness in the East Bay about a law that passed in Fremont, CA that bans encampments and even penalizes those serving them.

Well, there’s a positive update. After a ton of community pushback—shoutouts especially to Fremont For Everyone, California Homeless Union, and the Melino Foundation—the Fremont City Council amended the legislation to remove the clauses that would punish “aiding and abetting” people experiencing homelessness.

I don’t want to overstate the victory here. The camping ban alone is terrible legislation that will make homelessness worse, and cause untold misery to those who experience it for no gain for themselves or the community. It feels like a shallow victory that the “helpers” can’t be criminalized, but the people who are suffering most still can. Nonetheless, the precedent this law could have set was alarming, and I’m choosing to celebrate even the small win.

Do you want to hear more of me talking???

I’ve done some interviews recently! Both are available on YouTube, and each close to an hour if you really like hearing me talk.

This one dives deep into homelessness myths. The host does an excellent job asking questions that a lot of people are afraid to ask, and so we get to some really important places.

And here’s another great one where the conversation really veered toward the subject matter of my next book, which was a lot of fun!

Speaking of my next book….

Writing a book is hard!! I had forgotten that in the years in between.

Nevertheless, I’m hard at work writing Rescuing the Mission (working title), and I have to tell you… humility aside… I think it’s really good!!!! I hope you all love it, because it’s giving me a ton of hope to write it. If reading it is half as beneficial to you as writing it has been for me, you all are in for a treat.

While I’m in this stage of writing, the publisher is working behind the scenes to finalize the title and to begin cover design. In the next few months, I hope to update you on the official title of the book, and a bit after that with a COVER REVEAL ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

If everything goes right, by Fall I should be announcing pre-orders! This is happening, and it’s happening fast!

Lots of things are going poorly!

The Trump administration is currently ripping apart our social safety net, which was already insufficient. The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) was ordered to shutdown, and HUD is on high alert for an utter dismantling. I know folks on HUD vouchers that are already being affected. Things are really bad, and this administration’s term is still young.

There’s so much that can be said, but for now I just wanted to encourage everyone to keep fighting, and LEARN TO FIGHT LOCAL! We depend on so much in the Federal government when it comes to housing and homelessness, but our local communities (cities, counties, and states) have much more capacity than we realize to bring to bear. Some brilliant folks have published this piece outlining how smaller localities can leverage their resources to step in where the feds are stepping out.

Additionally, our smallest communities: churches, mutual aid groups, neighborhoods, families, and friendships, need all the nurturing they can get right now. All we’ve ever had is each other, and right now we’re being forced to see just how much that is true. I hope you’ll take some time this week to do something small but helpful for someone in your immediate vicinity. These tiny acts are both revelation and revolution.

Thanks for following along! I’ll be back next week with the start of an exciting new series that I can’t wait for you to check out!

—kevin

---

These posts will always be free.

But the rest of my work—traveling to speak and lead workshops, creating content, advocacy and direct aid—is enabled and expanded by your support. Consider becoming a Paid subscriber to enhance my reach.