Within a block or two in any direction from our new office in industrial SE Portland, someone will be trying to shelter themselves from rain and cold tonight with a tarp or tent or coat, with nowhere else to go. Homelessness is a very visible and much talked-about issue these days. While a true solution must involve addressing many interwoven issues, it seems self-evident that many people in Portland are in need of some kind of shelter from rain, cold, random violence, and eviction. As shelter-designers ourselves, we’re eager to help with this need.
 
You may have heard that the City is making plans to move the Right 2 Dream Too homeless camp from inner Northwest Portland to a more permanent site in industrial Southeast. You may not know that they are consulting our own Mark Lakeman for the site plan. Mark’s experience in establishing and developing Dignity Village has made him—and his collaborator Tim Merrill of Merrill Architecture—the choice architects of homeless people in town.
 
Right 2 Dream Too (R2D2) was established in 2011 on West Burnside both to provide a safe place to get a good night’s rest and to protest the City’s anti-camping rules. Rather than be raided by police as single people camping under bridges, this group of organized homeless citizens has managed to engage in negotiations with City government over the last four years. They have now secured an $850,000 budget for developing a more permanent site to camp, shower, do laundry, cook, and store their belongings. Forty people will reside in the camp and will admit up to sixty guests per night to sleep and use all of the facilities. In addition to the health and psychological benefits of meeting these basic needs, for some people, a place to rest and clean up can help them go out and earn money to improve their situation.
 
The site plan for this complete village infrastructure will be reviewed by City Council on February 4th, after which development of the new site can begin.
 
Dignity Village and R2D2 have shown that living collectively has significant benefits, and homeless people and their advocates are taking notice. A new camp, known as Hazelnut Grove, has recently sprung up near Overlook Park in North Portland. This camp features a food garden secured by OSALT to help people provide some of their own nutrition. At the Planet Repair Institute, an affiliate of Communitecture, permaculture students are preparing to design a sustainable site plan to guide campers in their development.

Meanwhile, as environmentalists and urbanites drool over magazine spreads of cleverly-designed tiny homes, some students and volunteers are seeing them as a step up from the urban tent. Linda Pope teaches environmental sustainability classes at Portland Community College and this year she’s engaged her students in building a simple home for Dignity Village. Communitecture donated the blueprints and students worked with Dignity Village residents to build the structure. This term, students are working in teams to develop an electrical/solar/wind system, a graywater system, a rainwater catchment system, and built-in furniture.
 
We may be nowhere close to solving the problems of homelessness in our community. However, every person sleeping on the street counts. and every shelter we create makes a difference. At the same time, homeless people who form villages and stand up for their rights have lessons to teach the rest of us. If people without any material wealth at all can be cooperative neighbors and create ecologically-responsible settlements from garbage, what excuse do we have not to form the most beautiful neighborhoods in the world?

Like nearly everywhere else, in Portland you are required to build in compliance with the International Building Code (IBC) to ensure safety and energy efficiency. It will influence everything from how steep your stairs can be to what types of joist hangers can be used to build your floor. The IBC favors industrial materials that have been tested to prove structural or insulative qualities. It doesn’t say anything about straw byproducts from Oregon’s wheat fields or clay from the Willamette. So why are a handful of folks able to build with natural materials in Portland?
 
To oversee sustainable construction, Portland has a team most cities don’t, called the Alternative Technology Advisory Committee. These volunteers review evidence that alternative materials can meet the intent of the code and have approved quite a few natural building applications.
 
If you want to build a permitted structure using natural materials, you can take an extra step and submit an appeal to the Committee.  They have approved certain natural building techniques when used in specific ways. For example, light straw clay has been approved if it is non-structural and properly vented. Cob and straw bales can be used as part of certain wall systems as well. We typically go through the appeal process before creating the final construction documents, to find out if the desired material will be allowed.
 
Communitecture has designed permitted straw bale and light straw clay buildings and can provide you with drawings and documentation to have your natural structure approved as well. We can do an initial code and zoning study to assess feasibility and carry your project all the way through permitting. If you have an unusual idea, we would love to talk.
 
Unusual ideas are exactly what make Portland a leader in sustainable development and we’re thrilled to be part of the progress.