Homelessness
Many people have unexpected, life altering events that can bring on reflection, reassessment, reprioritization, and redirection with a clearer vision, purpose and determination.
This was 2010 for Stuart. And it brought on a renewed and amplified passion to address homelessness.
Forced to downsize because of the economy, into a smaller space with a reduced team in Portland’s West End - surrounded by lower income housing and many homeless on the street, Emmons came out of his office one morning and saw this - a man passed out next to his office. This one moment turned Stuart Emmons’ world, and gave him not only a reminder of his roots in housing for homeless, but a new clarity and life mission. This shocking image seared into Emmons conscience: he was determined to help set a path to end homelessness, and he felt he had the perfect background and skill sets to make it happen.
Stuart Emmons’ career-long mission to combat homelessness and get people on our streets into housing is the primary foundation for his modular housing work. Emmons is convinced that modular housing increases the chances to solving this ‘unsolvable’ challenge.
It's about housing. Clare and her mom Megan were homeless. Clare was in and out of school. They became one of the new residents at Stuart’s project, Kah San Chako Haws, and their lives were transformed. Stable housing enabled Megan to get steady work, and Clare became a full time student at Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland. She got excited about art, and made these beautiful dragons.
Then, Clare went off to college.
