Why Was a Mentally Ill Portland Woman Evicted From Her Apartment? “We’re a Housing Organization, Not a Mental-Health Organization"

The Guardian adds more details to the story of Karen Batts, who died in a Portland parking garage.

Portland snowstorm on Jan. 11, 2017. (Joe Riedl)

London's Guardian newspaper has taken a long look at the death of Karen Batts, a mentally ill Portland woman who died in a parking garage in the midst of  January's snowstorms.

Karen Batts, who was evicted over failing to pay $338 in rent and died in a parking garage over the winter, was one of four homeless people on Portland's streets to die of hypothermia during the first two weeks of this year.

Her life and death has been the subject of multiple profiles, to which the Guardian profile fills in details.

The story makes the case that Batts fell through a hole in Oregon's social safety net: She was too ill to accept help, but too cogent to be compelled.

While Portland suffers from a lack of affordable housing, Batts's death on the streets is more complicated.

Batts was living  in an affordable housing complex for seniors and a disabled people, owned by Northwest Housing Alternatives.

Batts was presumably living there because she was disabled. Yet she was evicted after a breakdown in her mental health. The housing manager said she was holding loud parties, drinking wood alcohol, and not paying her rent.

"We're a housing organization, not a mental-health organization," Martha McLennan, the executive director of NHA, tells the Guardian.

The Guardian story asks what could change.

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