Humans for Housing

Join us at Dear Portland for a screening of the film No Place to Grow Old, followed by a presentation by Portland: Neighbors Welcome.

The screening will take place at Dear Portland — a free, immersive exhibition by Humans for Housing that brings together human stories, data, and space to explore Portland’s housing crisis with care, clarity, and imagination.

Doors open at 5:00, the film will kick off at 5:30. Please arrive at 5:00 to check out the exhibition space before the film begins! Link in bio for details 💌

Follow the exhibit page, and reserve your tickets to Dear Portland!

Today, we pass a huge milestone! Tickets are now available, and there are less than 30 days remaining until doors open to our exhibition, Dear Portland. 🎉

Learn more about the exhibit and plan your visit here: www.dearportlandexhibit.com/details

Our exhibit, Dear Portland, now has its own page! Same work, new home. Save the date for our upcoming exhibit and follow along for updates on our upcoming initiative. 🎉

Dear Portland is a love letter to the city of Portland, OR. We’re creating an experiential exhibit dedicated to and shedding light on our neighbors facing the greatest impacts of the city’s housing shortage. In this community space, we can see clearly, feel deeply, and move towards co-creating solutions and standing up for our neighbors.

Spread the word and mark your calendars. Tickets become available on January 12th with the exhibit opening on February 7th. 💌

Happy Holidays from all of us at Humans for Housing.

As the year comes to a close, we are deeply grateful for our community, partners, and supporters who make this work possible. Thank you for standing with us, sharing stories, and helping move us closer to a future where everyone has a safe place to call home.

Wishing you rest, connection, and warmth this season.

We are so proud to share our 2025 Impact Report with you.

This past year was bigger than any of us at Humans for Housing could have imagined. No Place to Grow Old reached new communities across the country, sparked policy conversations, and helped elevate the voices of older adults experiencing housing insecurity.

One of the most meaningful moments in this report is an update from Bronwyn, who shared her story in the film and reflects on what housing stability has made possible in her life. Her words are a powerful reminder of why storytelling matters and what becomes possible when people are given the chance to be housed with dignity.

Thank you to our community, partners, and supporters for making this impact possible. We are honored to share what we built together in 2025 and excited for what’s ahead.

Read the full report here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oh44fZkIxLKwWtBeWolu4rok4ul2LHEJ/view?usp=sharing

The Dear Portland exhibition website is now live!

Dear Portland opens February 7 at Stelo Arts Gallery and will weave together data and human storytelling to bring our community closer to the reality of our housing shortage and the neighbors most affected by it.

Through film, stories, and interactive elements, Dear Portland invites visitors to learn, reflect, and take action toward housing justice. We hope you will join us.

Exhibition dates: February 7 through April 9, 2026
Location: Stelo Arts Gallery, 412 NW 8th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209
Learn more: dearportlandexhibit.com or link in bio

We are honored to recognize PacificSource Health Plans for their support of No Place to Grow Old. Their partnership allowed the film to reach more organizations, communities, and viewers across Oregon and beyond.

PacificSource understands that health is shaped not only by medical care but also by access to safe, affordable, and stable housing. Their support reflects a commitment to strengthening long-term community well-being.

We are grateful for their belief in the power of film to educate, engage, and inspire change.

We are honored to recognize AARP Oregon for their support of No Place to Grow Old. Their partnership expanded the reach of the film and helped bring its message to more communities across Oregon and beyond.

AARP empowers people to choose how they live as they age and serves as a wise friend and fierce defender for older adults. Their work ensures that people can navigate money, health, and happiness with dignity and stability.

We are grateful for their belief in the power of film to educate, engage, and inspire change.

Today is Giving Tuesday. A generous partner is matching every gift up to $25,000, which means your first donation goes twice as far.

No Place to Grow Old has now reached more than 10,000 viewers, held 150 screenings, and made it all the way to the U.S. Capitol, where Senator Ron Wyden called the film “a catalyst for changing minds in places that have been too slow on housing.”

Your gift today fuels the next chapter of this momentum as we continue advocacy for stable housing and prepare to release the Dear Portland exhibition in 2026.

Donate today and double your impact:
https://www.humansforhousing.org/donate

This message comes from our Executive Director, Michael Larson, who shared these reflections earlier this month on LinkedIn. We are passing them along here for our community as the camping ban to takes effect.

"On November 1, Portland began enforcing its public camping ban. The ban prohibits people from camping in public spaces when “reasonable” alternative shelter is available. Someone who refuses shelter could be hit with a 100 dollar fine or spend a week in jail. I understand this is being enforced as a step towards bringing safety and livability back to Portland, but I think we need to be clear about its implications.

Yes, we will visibly see less unsheltered homelessness. Less tents and people living outside. The streets might look cleaner and more safe. But by no means does this at all adequately address our homelessness crisis. People who are in shelter are still homeless.

According to Multnomah County, there are currently 16,089 people experiencing homelessness. These numbers increase by hundreds of people each month. While there are people who are experiencing homelessness with intense mental health and addiction needs, our increases to our overall homeless population are largely driven by our chronic lack of affordable housing. In Portland, more than half of all renters are cost burdened (paying over 30 percent of their income for housing) and 25 percent are severely cost burdened (paying over 50 percent). We have been in a housing emergency since 2015, despite many powerful efforts to combat our housing shortage.

The Welcome Home Coalition just released a groundbreaking report interviewing 429 people experiencing homelessness and found that 91 percent of people would move into a home if they could afford it.

We have failed as a region to adequately provide the homes that are needed for the people who need them most.

As our city asks the question of what does compassion and accountability look like for our neighbors on the street, we must also ask what does compassion and accountability for our inadequate housing systems look like. They have failed to produce the affordable homes at scale we need in this region. If we do not succeed with building a healthy housing continuum, families, older adults, and people of all demographics will continue waiting in shelters as they sit on housing wait lists that are months and many times years long.

I understand November 1 is a step for Portland’s businesses and downtown to stabilize and for housed residents to feel safer enjoying them. But I hope the city of Portland makes just as strong of an effort to spur and invest in housing access and production as we currently are in enforcement and shelter.

What does it look like for Portland to be compassionate enough not just to move people to shelter, but to make sure they make it back to stable housing. To truly thrive.

If not, I fear we become like New York City, which has the largest homeless population in the country, you just do not notice it as much since they are all in shelter. Over 130,000 people living in shelters. Are we sure that is what compassion and accountability really look like."

We are hiring a Director of Policy and Community Engagement. This full-time role will strengthen our storytelling and advocacy work in the Portland Metro area and help shape our housing policy strategy beginning in February 2026.

If you know someone who is passionate about housing justice, community engagement, and the power of story to move people toward action, we warmly encourage you to share this opportunity with them.

Position description: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1PNHuN3BmIfvdiu0uiKSpkLso_CAZ1H-O/view?usp=sharing

Application form:
https://forms.gle/wDLrKh7Y6Ppi4jnR6