Portland, Ore. — The hunger strike at City Hall is reaching its weeklong anniversary. For the past 168 hours, Cameron Whitten has camped in a cubicle chair, enduring the wind and soggy blankets in his advocacy for housing justice.
So far, City Council has mostly overlooked Whitten, whose personal office is situated between a bike rack and a Real Estate newspaper stand on 4th Ave. However, City Council members enter through the back entrance by vehicle. Amanda Fritz has been the only one to respond to her emails and Mayor 
Adams stopped by for a quick check-up yesterday, indicating he will back to talk in the future.
In the course of this period, his total body weight has substantially dropped from 193.7 to 186.2 pounds. He has completely excluded solid food from his diet, only adding fruit juices to his regimen after cautioning from medical experts. He assures that his energy levels are stable, but is starting to notice a weakening in his legs.
Supporters have stopped by to donate liquids and signs, taking to Twitter and passing out flyers to help spread the message. The protest is receiving its second participant, Monica Juarbe, a 33 year old woman who has fondly associated herself with Occupy Portland. She refuses to join the camp-out, which she calls “Balls to the Wall”. It is also not medically advisable, as the body loses its ability to regulate temperature.
There is no determined end date for this protest.
For more information, visit www.cameronwhitten.com
If you really want to help. My friends and I are bringing dinner to Goose Hollow Family Homeless Shelter. We serve dinner at 7pm. Perhaps you would like to come and join us. http://pdxhfs.org/ Housing is not a right. People need earn their keep and contribute to society and be self supporting, not depending on government handouts.
Hello Heidei,
Thank you for your thoughtful response on my blog. Just so you can learn a little more about me, I have volunteered over 1,000 hours to the Goose Hollow Family Shelter by being an on-call Overnight Host for their homeless family program. I did not do this for college credit or for community service, this was an ongoing practice I had dedicated myself to because of my passion to help others, and the aggregating housing crisis that has plagued American Society. Feel free to ask one of the Directors about my volunteerism there.
I have expanded my community activism to include public policy because there is a platform in America that has not been filled since the Civil Rights Era. There is rampant apathy about the future of humanity. According to Article 25 of the Universal Declarations adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.”
I approach my activism with the same philosophy. I am not on a hunger strike to make others believe housing is a human right. I have been very clear about educating the general population about three resolutions which discuss reforms that we should make that don’t specifically help the homeless, but these propositions are about People who are providing for themselves and need some help in economic times. R2D2 is a privately leased space, where it’s participants clean and patrol Chinatown, they have made nice with their neighbors, and have never had a single nuisance complaint filed on them.
Megacorporate banks received trillions of dollars from the Obama Administration, which only resulted in more fraudulent loans and predatory lending. Only this year has there been any legislation passed to deal with the MERS system and Bank accountability on a national and local scale. A 1 year moratorium on foreclosures would allow these policies to take effect, and give people more time to get back on their feet and pay their debt. It will also protect the home value of a lot of people in the community.
The last resolution reflects the fact the City has adopted irresponsible funding protocol, where they have attached housing revenue with Urban Renewal Areas. That means that they have to continue developing large, expensive projects in order to provide public housing. This is part of what creates gentrification, and poverty pockets in our City. I believe we should follow the more sound path of our sister city of Seattle, who has a population of only 30,000 higher, but provides almost twice as much in housing assistance, with passing a levy to make housing budget projections accurate and reliable, making government work more efficiently.
Lastly, it is commonly accepted that the homeless that we criminalized for either drug/alcohol abuse or for anti-camping enforcement, that the taxpayer is paying tremendous amounts of money for through the justice system. Isn’t it about time we practice some common sense and begin taking preventative measures?
I would appreciate meeting you in person, you can find me at anytime outside of City Hall. Or, you can give me a call at 503-890-5716.
Solidarity, Unity, and Equality,
Cameron.
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Best regards, Ron
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For all of those who would like to read Best Fitness Tips go to my blog Fitness Interval Training
For an update on Cameron’s fast see my article at examiner.com. Click in my name at the search box way at the top of the page. I encourage everyone to support this courageous young man.
Along with housing cheoics you also need to add transportation cheoics. For example there is no public transportation in the Sunnyside area of Midland and Midland Point area. This needs to be addressed along with housing options.
Check your community rerusoces. Lately local communities have been setting up help becauseof the current housing situation.Try your Town Hall, even if they can’t help you, they may be able to give you better ideas.Good Luck.
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Hello, I have exhausted my unmynloemept and me or my husband have not been able to find a job. I cannot stay anylonger and my parents and my husband is living in his car with our dog. Is there any referrals that I can get for we can get into a family shelter? Its my husband, my daughter 19 and my son 8, our dog and myself. Please contact me with any information at 773-498-4872. Thank you
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You will get a letter stiatng that your home is in foreclosure. You are only 90 days deliquent, technically you could still pay and stay. It probably won’t be for another 30-45 days before you start receiving foreclosure letters. You will get the letter though. They can’t give you a letter because there is no letter your house is not in foreclosure yet.They have to send you all the documents