Homelessness is a social issue that affects about 580,000 people in the United States according to the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness. This number has been steadily increasing nationwide for four consecutive years. In Portland, Oregon, roughly 4,000 people experienced homelessness during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a challenging year for many. Homelessness negatively impacts the lives of those who experience it; this issue also impacts stormwater quality and infrastructure.
It will take a combined effort from the academic sector, social services, and stormwater professionals to formulate an actionable plan for improving both the health and safety of people experiencing homelessness and stormwater quality.
Currently, people experiencing homelessness generate trash and other waste without adequate stormwater management, water, and sanitation infrastructure. Due to the nature of homeless encampments, fecal matter from people experiencing homelessness ends up in storm drain systems and eventually waterways without proper wastewater treatment. While the City of Portland is taking some preventative action by providing sanitary services to those living in RVs, a more robust solution is needed for unhoused people living in tents. Additionally, some nonprofits in Portland provide trash disposal and recycling services; however, these nonprofits are typically spread thin and unable to serve all homeless communities and encampments on a regular weekly basis.
How can we create an intersectional solution?
A case could be built to support the implementation of more substantial sanitation infrastructure for people experiencing homelessness. We could quantify bacterial load from unhoused people, a nonpoint source pollution, with the help of microbiologists from the academic sector. With a baseline from their studies, our stormwater and wastewater professionals could provide a One Water solution to reduce the amount of fecal matter from people experiencing homelessness deposited into stormwater streams and ultimately our waterways.
We will need to work with social services (nonprofit organizations, social workers, etc.) in order to tackle the reduction of trash waste from people experiencing homelessness. Finding a solution will require innovative thinking from both industries. How can we reduce trash generation or increase trash collection from homeless encampments without causing the displacement of people? We will need to learn about how and where people experiencing homelessness routinely dispose of their waste when aided and unaided by social services and use this information to provide technical design support and processes for proper trash disposal. As engineers, we will need to think with a social services lens and approach these issues with empathy and understanding.
There are a multitude of ways to approach two seemingly separate problems: the health and safety of people experiencing homelessness and improvements for stormwater quality impacted by people experiencing homelessness. I am lucky enough to work for a company that has shown continued support for this type of integrated thinking with the newly launched social and environmental justice workshop, Project Confluence. The workshop will provide Mead & Hunt employees with tools and methods to design and build social, environmental, and climate-just infrastructure. We can work together with academia and social services using an intersectional approach to create sustainable solutions.