Good afternoon Housing Not Handcuffs supporters,

Yesterday, advocates in DC and dozens of cities across the country took action to demand housing and support, not handcuffs or cuts. We came together to mark the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court hearing the Johnson v. Grants Pass case. Since the court’s shameful decision last summer, over 160 cities have passed laws that have made homelessness worse. But, despite what politicians and billionaires want you to think, the only real solution to homelessness is housing, not handcuffs.  

After yesterday’s powerful mobilization, we turn our attention to the Deschutes National Forest in Oregon.  

All eyes on Oregon  

On May 1st, the Trump administration’s US Forest Service is scheduled to evict upwards of 150 homeless people from the Deschutes National Forest. We need your help to get educated and take action to draw attention to, and hopefully stop, this harmful eviction.  Despite lawsuits and disability claims, the Trump administration has not relented on its cruel and backwards May 1st closure. Below are two things you can do right now to act.  

  1. Email Donald Trump demanding that he stop this eviction  
  2. Attend our April 28th Mass Zoom Meeting to hear directly from people living in the forest.
Send an email to help stop the eviction!
RSVP to the April 28th Mass Call

A few things to know about Deschutes  

- At least 80 people living in the forest have serious medical disabilities.  

- Forest residents have nowhere else to go. There is no shelter nearby, there isn’t housing that people can afford, and nearby cities have made it illegal to be homeless.  

- Like many of Trump’s actions, this eviction will harm us all, but will hurt Black, Brown, queer and disabled people the most.  

- Just weeks ago, Trump announced that Deschutes and other US forests would be opened to logging.  

“My family goes back three generations here in Bend. My very first job was framing houses – you could say my family and I literally helped build this town. But now? There's no way I could afford to buy a place here. Anyone could be just one missed paycheck, one slip on the ladder, or one sick day away from losing everything. [...] It's incredibly difficult to get back on your feet once you've been knocked down. If they force us out on May 1st, we still won't have anywhere else to go. It'll just make it even tougher for us to rebuild our lives."

- Chris Daggett, who currently lives in the Deschutes Forest. 

Nothing about this forest eviction will help people. All it will do is push homeless Oregonians further into poverty and homelessness while making it easier for billionaires to line their pockets. There is another path forward. The only way to solve homelessness is to ensure that everybody has the housing and support they need.

Onward,

Housing Not Handcuffs
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