On all fronts, 2009 has been a challenging year for Portland's housing community. The global economic crisis has hit our most vulnerable especially hard, leaving many homeless service providers scrambling for funding and stretching every dollar.

Street Roots has used this week's editorial column to highlight some of the many points of progress in Portland, writing that 

"we live in a beautiful city, among amazing and innovative people, rich and poor, with a will to make the world we live in a better place."

Nick and our city's community of providers have been working harder than ever to buffer our homeless from the economic crisis, and have achieved some truly remarkable victories over the last year - securing a dramatically increased housing budget, moving forward on the RAC, sheltering our homeless during the winter weather crisis of last year, and launching a new Housing Bureau.

The editorial board writes that "opportunity awaits us at every corner," and that "watching many of the newly elected officials in Portland navigate the recession while trying to improve the quality of life for Portlanders and Greshamites is assuring."