Housing and homelessness is a visible and divisive issue in local media, in politics, and across different communities within our state. Many of us were experiencing housing instability and economic uncertainty even during the “boom” times before the current crisis. This conversation will explore common assumptions and perspectives about the experience of houselessness/homelessness and seek to answer the question, How do we decide who “belongs” in our community?

Reeva Wortel is a multidisciplinary contemporary artist, choreographer, director and teaching artist who creates narrative portrait-based projects that combine interviews, social commentary, performance, and large-scale installation. Driven by a commitment to develop the technique of portraiture beyond its traditional limits, Wortel has worked in communities as an artist, activist, social worker, and teaching artist, honing a technique to narrate the individual stories of our time through her intimate portraiture work. Wortel’s process explores deep questions about human complexity and how art can reimagine the communities we live in toward a more just and equitable world.