Immersive New Exhibition Invites Portland To Confront The Housing Crisis Through Human Stories - 01/14/26
Immersive New Exhibition Invites Portland to Confront the Housing Crisis Through Human Stories
Humans for Housing launches ‘Dear Portland,’ a community-centered space where visitors can experience thedata and stories behind Portland's housing shortage and engage in solutions.
EVENT DETAILS:
Press Preview: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026, at Stelo Arts, 412 NW 8th Ave., Portland
Exhibition Launch Day Block Party: 11:00 AM - 3:00 PM, Saturday, Feb. 7, 2026, at Stelo Arts, 412 NW 8th Ave., Portland
PORTLAND, Ore. - Feb 7: An interactive exhibition opening at Stelo Arts invites Portlanders to step into a deeplyhuman exploration of the city’s housing crisis, one rooted in real stories, lived experience, and focused on collective action.
Dear Portland is a new exhibition by Humans for Housing that transforms abstract housing data into personal narratives, spatial storytelling, and opportunities for reflection. Framed as an intimate letter to a beloved city, the exhibition asks visitors to look honestly at the systems shaping housing insecurity while centering the voices of people most impacted.
Through a combination of storytelling, visual elements, and data-informed context, Dear Portland creates space forvisitors to see more clearly, feel more deeply, and imagine what becomes possible when communities stand up for their neighbors.
“Too often, conversations about housing stop at numbers,” said Michael Larson, executive director of Humans for Housing. “Dear Portland is about slowing down and listening to the people behind the data, to the city we love, and toone another. We wanted to create a space where empathy will lead to action.”
Humans for Housing is known for its storytelling-driven approach to housing justice, including the acclaimeddocumentary No Place to Grow Old, which has screened more than 160 times in over 60 cities nationwide, from Portland to Washington, D.C.
Today, Portland Oregon is in a severe affordable housing shortage that has turned into a crisis for many Portlanders. According to Multnomah County’s dashboard, this January over 16,000 Portlanders are living homeless.
“We were intentional about creating a space that feels invitational rather than overwhelming,” said Madeline Iem, curatorof Dear Portland. “This exhibition is about honoring lived experience and holding complexity–grief, love, anger, and hope–while reminding visitors that housing insecurity is not inevitable. It’s the result of choices, and that means we can choose something different together.”
The exhibition opens to the public at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 7. The Exhibition Launch Day block party will take place from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. and include warm coffee and fresh donuts as supplies last, live music, a chance to connect with the curators and moments designed to welcome visitors into the space and the ongoing conversation around housing justice in Portland.
A press preview with light refreshments will take place Thursday, Feb. 5, from 1 p.m. - 3:00 p.m., offering the media aguided walkthrough of the exhibition and opportunities to speak with exhibition coordinators.
Tickets for the exhibition can be reserved at this link.
Additionally, during Portland's First Thursday on Feb 5, the public can attend an exclusive sneak peek event from 4:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Limited to 30 tickets, this event features the exhibition’s curators and some of the storytellers whosevoices shape Dear Portland. Tickets for this event can be reserved at this link.
MEDIA RESOURCES: Exhibition team available for interviews; images and press materials available here.
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Humans for Housing is a Portland-based nonprofit dedicated to advancing housing justice through storytelling,education, and community engagement. Grounded in the belief that every human has inherent worth and a right to safe, stable housing, Humans for Housing creates narrative-driven projects that center lived experience and inspire collective action. The organization is the creator of the acclaimed documentary No Place to Grow Old, which has screened more than 160 times in over 60 cities nationwide.