In this Catholic Charities building, people heal via relationships.
Henry Johnson no longer feels the need to strap knives to his hands as he sleeps.
Johnson adopted that strategy when he first arrived in Portland on a Greyhound bus and stepped onto the scrappy streets of Old Town. He wanted to put other homeless people on notice: Don’t mess with me.
Early this holiday season, Johnson instead used a knife to cut into a generous piece of turkey on his plate at Francis + Clare Place, his new home in Southeast Portland. The community room at the Catholic Charities building is the site for potluck meals, coffee and doughnuts and board games. Most important, residents come to be nourished by relationships.
On the afternoon of the holiday meal, Johnson chatted amiably with a fellow resident and then joined a round of Scrabble.
“You take people off the streets and you put them in an apartment and walk away from them — I don’t feel that’s the answer. But this is the solution right here,” says Johnson, waving a beefy hand around the room, which is lined by floor-length windows and is full of tables and comfortable chairs. “You can be upstairs and get your mind together all you want but then you can come down here with like-minded people who care about you. A lot of us get overlooked. Like invisible people. You see me but do you really look at me, or do you just see another person lying down at the bus stop? But if you just dust us off a little with compassion and hope, you’ll see what we can be.”
After sleeping on the streets for a time, Johnson stayed in shelters and hotels as he got his life together, as he puts it.
He says Francis + Clare, a 61-unit building that opened this fall, is key to his next steps.
“We come here from off the streets, from various places, and we heal,” he explains. “This is more than an apartment. We help others heal and change. Now I’m warm, I’m safe, I am around people who care. And it’s up from here. I have an opportunity to do things I never could have done looking over my shoulder or trying to put on another blanket. The contrast of where I am now and where I was before is huge and I appreciate it.”
Amanda Rozmer, Permanent Supportive Housing Supervisor for Catholic Charities of Oregon, said the residents of Francis + Clare formed family-like bonds quickly. The catalyst was the community room.
“It was a really wonderful thing to witness,” Rozmer says.
She thanks voters for passing housing and supportive housing bonds in the city of Portland and via Metro, both keys to the creation of Francis + Clare. The building has 61 units and also is served by NARA and Cascadia.
Johnson aims to produce music and begin recording a podcast in which he asks residents, all who have been homeless like him, to tell their stories. His planned title? “The Community Room.”
He also intends to start his own business and volunteer to help low-income people move into new homes. He knows how good a new home feels.
Johnson said it’s clear that Catholic Charities staff are out for more than a paycheck. For example, workers did the cooking for the holiday meal, with a few dishes contributed by residents.
“Through Catholic Charities and the compassionate folks here, I am able to elevate myself,” he says. “And with a better me, my life will shine for everybody else, to help everybody else and we all gleam off each other.”
See KOIN television’s interview of Henry Johnson by clicking here.