ss Women nduct timely research and n, e es of t. of ~ e en ry ese Story by Katlin Smith anticipated because they were 50 eager to talk," she states. The interviews revealed a number of significant findings, including a fairly young average age (32 years), substantial histones of residency in the Portland area, and high incidences of physical and sexual abuse. "Most people expect that the homeless people are drifters and, in fact, it was very interesting that 65 percent of these women had been in the city for over a year and 45 percent for over five years," Anderson reports. "So I think thatlhere's also that fantasy that people are just rOlating through and drifting in all the time. It's really not so." Sexual and physical abuse has been a fact of life for many of the women, the study found. More than two·thirds of the interviewees had been physically abused during their lives and nearly half had been sexually abused. Almost one·third of the women attributed their homelessness to escape from an abusive relationship. But abuse may continue on the streets. "I'm glad I don't have any teeth in front because if I have teeth I'm raped a lot more," one woman told a student interviewer. "The worse you look, the more they leave you alone. So that is fine with me." Health was another concern. "I think we were all impressed with the fact that these women were not in good health," Anderson says. "There were a lot of health problems, which I didn't think was surprising. But in a relatively young population, it's a great concern." Sixty percent of the women described their health as poor or fair. Alcohol dependency was one major health·related problem. "Probably over a third of them are alcoholic," reports Anderson, who has studied alcoholic women for the past 12 years. More than 40 percent of the sample, however, do not drink. Mental health is also a concern. "Probably close to 20 percent are chronically mentally ill," Anderson says. "At least that many have been in a state hospital and 25 percent had made a suicide attempt, so there's mental illness and then, most importantly, there's just a lot of poverty and unemployment and lack of adequate housing." With collection of the data, the myth that all homeless people live on the streets because they choose to was dispelled_ The researchers found that 90 percent of thc women wanted to leave the ranks of the homeless and more than 75 F n : ~ ~ ~ , h ; ~ ! ~ e ~ o ~ ~ : n ~ r ~ r h f ~ n ~ ~ ~ ~ r ~ b l ~ : . i , t , e d Anderson hopes that the study will be used to develop solutions to the problems and special needs of homeless women. "In addition to gelling a picture of what the population looked like, we were really interested in looking at the unmet service needs because we were hoping that this wouldn't be just another research report that gets filed in somelxxly's drawer and forgotten," Anderson says. "I think Portland is a very responsive community." Anderson is now serving on a Muhnomah County work group which is addressing implementation of the 12-point plan on homelessness released by Mayor Bud Clark (Vanport). "What is needed, locally as well as nationally, is a real public commitment to employment opportunities and to diverse low-income housing," Anderson says. "One of the recommended solutions is always just more shelters_ "m real ambivalent about that because it seems to me that kind of temporary solution often becomes the permanent solution so you just get more and more shelters." The research of the PSU graduate students may soon be a part of the solutio(l_-Multnomah County published the data in November, 1985 in an attractive report with striking black-and·white photos of homeless women. " It will be distributed Widely throughout the community and nationally," according to Lynn Hingson of the county staff. "We hope people will take the problem seriously and do something about it." Hingson and Anderson were both pleased with the research conducted for thc study, which cost Multnomah County less than $1,500 to produce. "It's the kind of thing I like to see and I think the Graduate School of Social Work should do," Anderson says. "Working closely with the community, with their needs and our students' interests and their educational needs - they really mesh nicely." And just as the streets are very real places for the homeless women of Portland, they became very authentic for the PSU students. For Tome Boe, the research experience moved far beyond the academic. "It made learning very appropriate, very applicable, very reaL" PSU Perspective, Winter 19861 page 9
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