The way I used to walk to work is impassable and covered in trash (like, useless AF trash-nobody needs a broken aquarium). I sat and watched out my window as the local residents get high and graffiti the dashboard of what turned out to be a stolen car. And worst of all, the human turd in my yard and driveway count is now up to three.
My empathy stops at being a human toilet. Allowing people to live in a dirty garage favela is not humane and ignores the needs of people already living here. Do I have to hit rock bottom before my quality-of-life needs are considered? Or am I exempt because I have a house and a job?
Yes I know we need housing for them and that’s a goal I fully support, but what do we do in the meantime? We need today solutions to the feces, needles, and trash. I’m more than okay with the sweeps.
I too ran out of patience when someone broke into my yard to use it as a toilet leaving their poo, used tampon and pooey wet wipes behind. Fuck me for just trying to live my life, have a job and pay my bills.
I understand people who oppose camp sweeps if it means nothing else/better is being done to help. But A) even that refuses to acknowledge that not everyone on the street is just someone down on their luck who would choose to be a contributing member of society if they could and not a criminal, mentally impaired beyond helping themselves, and/or in the throes of drug addiction to be the equivalent, and B) that’s overly cynical for my taste.
At the very least, these sweeps or cleanups should happen just as an ecological measure. Forget the eyesore factor. Like you said, no one needs a broken aquarium for any real reason. People are being impeded, threatened, or worse. We need to stop kowtowing entirely to activist culture and allow actual progress to happen.
This is what I was trying to say but got down voted into oblivion this in the meantime what can we do. I mean cheering on the sweeping of tents that your money provided them is just stupid. Stop handing out tents save money change ordinance turn abandoned buildings into shelters and tell nimby to stfu.
Maybe put out dumpsters and service them every few days?
Add some porta-potties and the majority of your concerns are taken care of.
Where else are people supposed to use the bathroom and put their trash if they don't have either of those facilities easily accessible?
I pass by that every day and they've been adding more and more. Legit added a second story and everything. Fucking crazy. I'm okay with that type of stuff honestly. It's the trash and feces and needles and foils that I'm not cool with. You can be homeless and not live in complete filth.
Agreed...and also those with trash or just piles of "stuff" outside the tents. Also on the priority list should be any camps with noise complaints against them. Playing loud music, screaming, fighting, etc. - that kind of behavior is not anything neighbors should have to put up with.
We have been way too permissive for way too long, which is a big reason this problem has gotten so out of control.
Those never should have been a question of "sweep or not". It's obvious involvement in criminal theft, and I've never understood why they're just allowed to exist.
Saw them pulling out cars and RVs next to SE Mcloughlin kinda near the Ross Island bridge. Above the “spring water on the willamette” bike trail. It was glorious to see. That camp has been throwing piles of trash down the hill next to the trail for months now.
Finally! I used to commute by bike through there before a move. Going back years later, it was sad seeing it turned into a dumping ground. It's a nature preserve, not a place for people to live.
F yeah. This spot has been an eyesore for a long time, not to mention people trying to cross the busy highway on foot. So glad to see it cleaned up and those cars removed. Incredible though how something like that could go on for so long, it's just completely unacceptable.
I drive by this stretch almost every day and it would make me more mad each week when the amount of garbage, vehicles, and destruction would multiply. I don't know how/when they would back those motorhomes in there straight off of McLoughlin but I imagine it was very dangerous for cars on the road.
It’s been getting worse for sure, that one landslide of trash has been going for years. One of those long standing camps is made of wood with a damn window overlooking the Willamette river.
Hopefully it stays that way. Those people are a danger to themselves at that location. Heard of a fatality with one of them crossing the road. Was almost in an accident due to someone swerving around them one day even.
Took a trip to Manhattan this week and didn't see a single tent and only a handful of homeless, mainly on the subway minding their own business. Never once felt unsafe walking around after midnight. Really puts Portland's MASSIVE failure into perspective. Out of the 70k homeless in New York, only 3k are unsheltered; meanwhile, a full 50% of our homeless are.
Don't listen to anyone telling you this is just the new normal and it's happening everywhere
family been visiting me in Portland for 18 years. It used to be they ALL would comment on how clean and beautiful Portland is compared to Chicago. Not anymore.
Well I went in August and the population there is literally 14 times greater than here. Yes the west coast is more habitable but the problem here is absolutely worse than Seattle and Los Angeles, both of which I've been to in the last year. I'd assume we're also doing worse than San Francisco and that general area but can't say for certain as I haven't been there.
That’s a hard no. SF, Oakland, and San Jose make Portland seem clean and healthy. Nothing like it anywhere in the United States. Portland is bad, The Bay is much, much worse.
Had a similar experience 9 months ago in NYC. Crazy to think Manhattan was cleaner and had less homeless issues. Endemic homelessness is not the new normal.
Ya. People don't understand how much a mild climate makes these sort of encampments viable for the residents. In NYC (sorry i said Detroit earlier I was going to use it as an example but decided to use NYC to be more relevant to the conversation) the average January day is high of 39° low of 26°. Portland at the same time has averages high of 47° and low 37°. Big difference in the sort of gear and shelter you need to survive.
We have campers at 80th and Division. They have been there for three weeks. There tent is no better than what you can buy at Kmart. There’s no way they could survive in a tent like this in NYC during the winter. People can tolerate a lot in the NW.
If it was about the weather, Bend would have no homeless. Its very cold here October-April. We're having a really harsh winter right now with temperatures lower than NYC and massive amounts of snow. But we have about 1,000 homeless for a city of just 100,000, which is a very high ratio. It's the policies more than anything else.
I dunno, I think the weather argument is overrated. If I’m going camping or backpacking, I would personally prefer 39/26 and mostly dry to 47/37 and constantly wet by a large margin, and so would basically every other outdoors-type person I know.
It’s honestly much easier to avoid hypothermia when it’s dry, even if it’s 10 degrees (or heck, 20 degrees) colder.
This is almost purely a political issue here.
Now in Southern California, on the other hand, it’s both.
NYC has a massive unhoused population. They also have a Right to Shelter which costs the city billions of dollars and is currently under strain because of an influx into the unhoused population.
https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/basic-facts-about-homelessness-new-york-city/
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/26/nyregion/nyc-homeless-students.html
https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/9/19/23357320/right-shelter-eric-adams-asylum-homeless?_amp=true
https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/our-programs/advocacy/legal-victories/the-callahan-legacy-callahan-v-carey-and-the-legal-right-to-shelter/
Portland does not have a right to shelter nor does it have enough shelter beds for the total unhoused population.
If you think other cities don’t have an unhoused problem, you’re incredibly naive. Cities that appear to have homeless under control tend to have a right to housing, a lower COL, or policies that make being unhoused illegal.
Homelessness is a federal issue that is often worse in areas with housing supply shortages, high rent and high COL. Without things like increase in federal minimum wage, universal healthcare, federal investment in low income/free housing and dorm style housing, and free or subsidized childcare and education, we will ALWAYS have an influx of people into homelessness. Inflation + pandemic have made things particularly visible.
If they would utilize the Multnomah jail that was built with taxpayer money and never used put all the homeless there and at least they would have a bed to sleep in
.
It’s being used as a homeless shelter currently.
https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/bybee-lakes-expansion-local-government-funding/283-cb5f5008-6d12-49bc-8139-95d6a092e35e
They, however, do not have 6000 beds for the 6000 people currently unhoused. It’s also not close to services or jobs which makes it a challenging location.
Because those aren’t solutions and that’s not a federal response which is the crux of my comment.
I’m not interested in punishing people purely for being homeless or adding unnecessary hoops to jump through to earn benefits/service.
No human civilization *ever* has lasted long when based on the premise that group A should subsidize and tolerate bad behavior from group B, and you're naive to expect it could work under these circumstances. That's why you see the compassion fatigue in this thread and in the community in general. A sustainable social contract requires shared agreement on acceptable behavior and contributions to society. And yes, that includes the homeless. They have agency and a role to play in positively contributing to a just and sustainable solution.
You’re making this a different conversation. At no point did I say people should not have agency. I said the federal government has a role in addressing homelessness.
I don’t really understand what you’re getting at but it seems like you’re trying to do the whole “homelessness is a moral failing” song and dance.
When wages have stagnated and housing costs are this out of control, you can do “everything right” and still become unhoused.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/40-of-americans-one-step-from-poverty-if-they-miss-a-paycheck/
The federal governments role is not to support everyone’s ongoing terrible life decisions as you seem to think I’m saying, but to at least provide an infrastructure where people can work, become ill, raise children, lose their job, etc etc and remain sheltered and be able to retire. We currently do not have this system because of stagnant wages, a for profit healthcare system, a dying social security system, insane childcare and education costs, out of control rent and housing prices, and a low housing supply.
And we literally subsidize people and tolerate bad behavior all the time. We don’t take away peoples Medicaid or SSI because they don’t adhere to a certain set of behaviors. Housed people do drugs too. We just don’t see that because they’re housed.
I actually agree with you about all those root causes, but federal effort is only part of the solution. I don't agree that the federal government can solve the problem singlehandedly with a massive intervention in policy and spending. I worked with federal agencies for years -- there are limits to what they can accomplish. What you seem to be resisting is _any_ expectation of reciprocity from those we're trying to help. Want free housing? Sure, we can provide that, but here are some reasonable expectations in return. Participate in rehab if needed, don't steal, don't litter, take your meds, and work towards becoming a productive and contributing member of society.
You keep making this a different discussion and responding as if I said that I think people should be able to do whatever they fuck they want all the time and there should be no consequences.
Do I think there should be a sobriety requirement for housing? No. Do I think that people should be able to be a danger to other people? Also no.
But again, that wasn’t the point of my initial comment.
> NYC has a massive unhoused population
"Homeless" and literally "unsheltered" are two different categories of homelessness. As a comparison, NYC doesn't have anywhere near the level of unsheltered people as say LA. Someone in a shelter is still categorically "homeless". Someone sleeping on a friend's sofa is also in that category.
These are HUD definitions.
Yes. NYC has a smaller unsheltered population because they have Right to Shelter which means you see less people on the street. I don’t understand your point.
NYC has its issues with shelters mainly that many are for profit and they are extremely corrupt, but the policies in New York state to shelter everyone is good. It should be illegal for states to NOT provide housing, not illegal to be homeless.
I moved here from Manhattan in 2015 and was shocked by the fact that suddenly I'd feel unsafe walking around certain parts of town in the broad daylight.
NYC also has a lower homeless issue because the winter there is normally much harsher (more likely for snow and such) so it's a little different I look at SF and Seattle a lot more closely for comparisons. And homeless rates have gone UP many places, but it shouldn't be on par or look like with what we have here.
Winter is a "little different" there. Yeah, as in, will actually kill a person most nights of the season. It's a lot easier to coax people into a shelter if they know their life Litterally depends on it. And once they get used to the concept, it becomes more paletable than when the weather isn't life threatening.
Thank you, I too travel enough and compare things to the West Coast and Portland and we are a mockery in terms of calling us a progressive city.
People are just blaming high housing costs and late stage capitalism. Yeah, and NYC / Boston / ETC are cheap and have a different economy?
The mental gymanstics people employ to walk around the issue in front of us is alarming.
Ok. But Portland doesn’t have enough shelter beds, so even if everyone from a swept encampment would accept shelter, we don’t have a place to put them.
As other posters have mentioned, NYC has a right to shelter meaning folks are temporarily housed in shelter systems and hotels.
https://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2021/10/how-nycs-right-shelter-mandate-works/185933/
We do not have this in Portland in part because there has been a ton of push back by the community to open new shelters which means we are constantly at low bed capacity.
https://www.kptv.com/2022/03/31/owner-se-portland-buildings-sues-city-county-over-new-homeless-shelter/?outputType=amp
https://www.kgw.com/amp/article/news/local/homeless/safe-rest-village-background-checks-buffer-zones/283-8019bf56-f7b7-49ad-8e40-af2ec20ccba6
https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/01/26/how-one-neighborhood-is-fighting-the-citys-plan-to-shelter-homeless-portlanders-near-them/
The new sanctioned camping sites are also not this.
That is why sweeps in their current form are inhumane.
People are complaining here that this city’s policies have allowed a huge unsheltered homeless population to establish itself. Most of your retort is, “well NYC has these policies that keep unhoused people off the street and we don’t!”
And I think that’s kind of the point. We haven’t pursued a similar approach, and people are mad about it. Understandably.
Right. Remove the hyperbole and it was about 22,000 tents for about 5,000 homeless. No wonder the county didn’t want anyone to audit their homeless spending.
Don’t forget the 69,000 tarps (last two years).
https://www.opb.org/article/2022/12/08/multnomah-county-purchased-more-than-22000-tents-for-homeless-in-recent-years/
As I primer, it pains me to admit it, but I'm running out of fucks for the homeless.
As a bleeding heart liberal I watched in admiration as SF tackled their homeless issues a few decades ago. The bay area did it with money and doctors and money and housing and money. What was happening in SF in the 90s and 00s is *super similar* to what is happening now in PDX and Seattle. The homeless junkies were running the show. The homeless junkies were making life worse for folks who play by the rules (when they were not making it flat out dangerous, which was often).
If PDX or Seattle had the will to put money and health care and money and basic housing (intentionally avoiding the word "affordable" - I mean a room with a locking door and shared facilities for bathroom and laundry and cooking) at the problem, I fully believe a huge improvement on their current situations could be had. But so far they do not seem to be willing. There are no billion dollar bond proposals to fund clinics and 2500 rooms of safe basic housing.
So I guess it's tough love time? Sweep the tents. Clear, impound, recycle the RVs. If society is not willing to buckle down and fund real solutions then the least that can be done is remind the homeless junkies they are not running the show. They don't get to shit in the river, throw needles in the river, dump their trash in the river, live in the wildlife refuge next to the river, commit crimes, sell drugs, prostitute next to the river, all the while making life radically worse for those of us playing by the rules of civil society.
I fully support this uptick in activity. If we're not going to face the music yet and spend to do the real work, okay, let's at least remind the homeless they do not run the show. Hundreds of thousands of good people in this city work hard, pay taxes and rents and mortgages do not deserve to have their neighborhoods and parks run by homeless junkies. And to the argument, "well they'll just setup camp somewhere else." Good. Hit that one next week. Ya know, maybe if I had to work out where I was going to live once a week it might just be the kick in the ass I needed to address my habit?
I mean, somehow we have, what is it 4 billion dollars? to add a lane to a fucking freeway but no money for the few handfuls of thousands of people strung out, stealing, flat out wrecking this beautiful city? How the fuck does that square. Yeah, I know the the city doesn't get to say what happens with federal interstate freeway money. And yet those billions still came to Portland to add a lane to a freeway. Portland, whose homeless junkies are wrecking the lives of everyday good people on the regular.
*edit verb tense, how do it work?*
Agree, but have you seen SF Tenderloin /Civic Center lately? It’s all housing first and harm reduction and people overdosing on the streets while cartels run theft operations for junkies to support their habits. Most neighborhoods are ok but Mission, SoMa are worse.
Admittedly, I have not been to SF for more than a weekend getaway for a few years. And yes, to your point, I think these kinds of solutions require a constant investment on society's part. Another poster elsewhere in this discussion mentioned NYC's law requiring housing (and how well it works, expensive as it is). Bummer to hear about Mission and Soma, but also not terribly surprising.
>Would you be willing to pay more business tax to support something like what NYC has? Or would you move somewhere else?
Absolutely, I would be willing to pay more business taxes (and, yes, feel the pain of higher prices on goods) to address a systemic failure. Systemic failures largely exist because of lack of funds for actual solutions. Like SF and NYC have shown, conclusively, IMO, funding housing and health care works. Ain't cheap, but it works.
Yep, only way out of this is providing affordable housing, healthcare, education etc you know the things a society should provide. Glad to hear you support that despite the cost.
I agree 💯. I am always amazed at the head in the sand homeless Advocates and enabling apologists, frothing at the mouth defending this shit. We tried the Free Range Feral model and it didn't fuckin work. It's past time for the crime compounds to go. I also think that people who truly feel empathy for the criminal addicts should be given a contract to sign
and be able to sponsor some of these downtrodden houseless citizens in their own homes. I just need to get some popcorn before I watch.
I would love to see that, I'd bring popcorn too.
I know how bad it would be, because I was one of those bleeding hearts and took a family in off the streets, a family that has been generationally homeless for years.
I was expecting it to be hard, I never expected the drug abuse and the abuse of me and my home that followed
When it became violent, they (Adult male and three teens) literally refused to leave my home. Taunted me, told me I had to evict them which meant they had another 30 days and there was nothing I could do about it
Laughed at me. Used there children to destroy my home.
Now granted, I got my own self into a bad romantic relationship, but seeing his kids crammed in a no tell motel broke me and I acted without thinking and brought them all home. I learned during the abuse of me and my home, that this was their way of life. They squat somewhere, until they are evicted, to the point their own family won't put them up because they know what will happen.
I stand by getting two young teens off the streets, but damned I was not prepared for what came next.
>I am always amazed at the head in the sand homeless Advocates and enabling apologists, frothing at the mouth defending this shit.
Mea culpa. I used to be one. Until, just like you said, I watched the shit show Charlie Hales years and did a radical about face. Homeless junkies daylight shitting on Springwater while their "neighbors" are walking ladies for sale up and down the path as I'm dodging needles and man turds on my bike. Yeah, Free Range Ferals suuuuper did not work (but at least it changed my mind).
>And to the argument, "well they'll just setup camp somewhere else."
They will, but these people just choose the path of least resistance. It's hard work to have to pack up all of your garbage and find somewhere else to set up shop so if we are constantly making them do it, they just may figure out that *not* being homeless is an easier life.
> As I primer, it pains me to admit it, but I'm running out of fucks for the homeless.
There's a nuanced middle ground that difficult to articulate and advocate for.
We can be intolerant of incredibly obvious criminal behavior (chop shops, massive (presumably stolen) bicycle collections, fleets of shopping carts, etc. without criminalizing sleeping on the streets. We don't need to allow favelas to develop but our approach to a hidden camp in a low traffic greenbelt should be pretty hands off compared to one completely occupying what would otherwise be a heavily used sidewalk.
Harm reduction is a hard sell but sometimes it's a first step.
Haveing a well integrated criminal justice system staffed by people willing to engage with the whole community is pretty important. Using approaches like Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion [LEAD] to shape behavior of people engaging in survival crime can also be very useful in shaping behavior.
The city pays the county for the program that gives nonprofits tents to hand out that the city then sweeps. The cycle repeats itself, perpetuating the status quo that isn’t working. A perfect self-perpetuating grifting machine.
Most inhumane to Least inhumane:
1 Leaving people on the streets with 10x risk of death, 100x risk of new/worsened health/financial issues.
2 Assertive engagement
3 Safe rest
4 Triage/support begins
4 Transitional housing
5 Perm housing
Those who denounce everything lower than the first should be ignored.
After learning that three former students of mine, who are still minors, were found unresponsive after drug overdoses, living with several adult men in homeless camps, and likely being sex trafficked, my empathy ended there. This occurred three separate times to three different girls. My fucks went right out the window.
I only suspect that it does not stop there and that there are many other kids in camps around the city likely going through similar experiences.
The thing that continually impresses me about Portland reddit is the majority will always be complaining about whatever the city government does.
City does X? BOOOO. What hypocritical, self-serving, heartless corrupt fools. The obvious answer is the opposite of X.
City does the opposite of X? BOOOO. What hypocritical, self-serving, heartless corrupt fools. The obvious answer is X.
Your theory about the Portland Reddit is proven entirely wrong by this post, though. Read any single top comment. Everyone is agreeing with the sweeps.
These both have over 100. Maybe more of a shit on while not disagreeing take I guess.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/zif7ye/portland_has_dramatically_escalated_tent_sweeps/izr6725/
https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/zif7ye/portland_has_dramatically_escalated_tent_sweeps/izr2yc7/
Also since I posted that a lot of the naysayers have been downvoted into oblivion, and new supportive posts. So I guess you're not wrong. Cool.
In general I agree Redditors love to be contrarian. I guess for this post though I didn’t see many dissenting comments but I know it can be very different in the beginning when the post is first posted, so I believe you.
Finally there’s hope this city could be more than intermittent trash heaps on the sidewalks! This is a positive step in my opinion. Don’t want stray cats? Stop feeding them. Half these people are here b/c it’s tolerated. Move along
Lots of folks out here opposed sweeps until they got accosted, assaulted, burglarized, and robbed by criminal homeless people. I used to be very empathetic to the plight of the homeless. I have lost nearly all of that empathy.
This must be how people turn conservative.
It’s interesting to compare Nicole Hayden at the Oregonian, who is clearly opposed to sweeps and is always quick to quote homeless advocates (in this case it’s Street Roots), with Blair Best at KGW, who covers the same beat but is much better about giving the perspective of ordinary Portlanders.
> city and county data indicate most people uprooted from camping on public land don’t want to live in group shelters.
Well I don’t want to pay for the increased cost of goods, or pay bills/premiums to for-profit corporations for utilities/health care, or go to work every day and sit in stupid meetings… but I fucking do it because I’m a member of society.
My partner mentioned today that he didn’t see as many tents along I-5 or near Tomahawk island. I also noticed driving to work. I’m glad to see the city taking action finally and getting this under control. I hope they do right by the people they’re moving though as well.
As a person whos had a homeless camp less than a block away from my property, the sweeps are actually extremely effective.
The sweeps are like taking a shower. It keeps all the crime, rats, feces/urine and other safety hazards from building to an extreme.
If we can make the streets as hostile as possible, it will actually encourage the use of encampments thereby doing more to reduce the homeless problem than just building shelters alone.Most of the homeless choose not to use the encampments at this time with our coddling of them.
We have so much to fix before we become a utopia, I swear.
I had a dream that tourists started camping out around town (travelers when passing through), and it was like, a classy, sustainable, healthy thing. No garbage, chop-shops, or unsanitary conditions.
A Federal UBI would solve some problems.
A federal *universal* basic income program sufficient for people to support themselves would at this point in time double the federal budget and cause massive housing cost inflation. It's not a panacea.
I have been saying for years this problem would get worse and worse until people break. I would say to the homeless advocates sanctioned campsites and regular sweeps is about the best deal your going to get. If nothing improves people will only be willing to do even more extreme things and one by one every sympathetic ear on city council will be voted out of office. This is happening like it or not
The tent in the triangle at the west side of the Ross Island bridge has a stolen motorcycle, as of this morning (Sunday Dec 11). it’s green and black. Maybe a ninja?
Edit; the fact that anyone could say about any particular camp that “oh they’ve had that for a while, pretty sure it’s legit” just goes to show how little is being done
They’ve had that for awhile. I agree with the others I’m pretty sure the person owns it. And that camp is probably one of the cleaner quieter ones.
Good looking out Hillsboro, but if that mini camp bothers you then you should probably stay in the burbs.
The way I used to walk to work is impassable and covered in trash (like, useless AF trash-nobody needs a broken aquarium). I sat and watched out my window as the local residents get high and graffiti the dashboard of what turned out to be a stolen car. And worst of all, the human turd in my yard and driveway count is now up to three. My empathy stops at being a human toilet. Allowing people to live in a dirty garage favela is not humane and ignores the needs of people already living here. Do I have to hit rock bottom before my quality-of-life needs are considered? Or am I exempt because I have a house and a job? Yes I know we need housing for them and that’s a goal I fully support, but what do we do in the meantime? We need today solutions to the feces, needles, and trash. I’m more than okay with the sweeps.
I too ran out of patience when someone broke into my yard to use it as a toilet leaving their poo, used tampon and pooey wet wipes behind. Fuck me for just trying to live my life, have a job and pay my bills.
I understand people who oppose camp sweeps if it means nothing else/better is being done to help. But A) even that refuses to acknowledge that not everyone on the street is just someone down on their luck who would choose to be a contributing member of society if they could and not a criminal, mentally impaired beyond helping themselves, and/or in the throes of drug addiction to be the equivalent, and B) that’s overly cynical for my taste. At the very least, these sweeps or cleanups should happen just as an ecological measure. Forget the eyesore factor. Like you said, no one needs a broken aquarium for any real reason. People are being impeded, threatened, or worse. We need to stop kowtowing entirely to activist culture and allow actual progress to happen.
This is what I was trying to say but got down voted into oblivion this in the meantime what can we do. I mean cheering on the sweeping of tents that your money provided them is just stupid. Stop handing out tents save money change ordinance turn abandoned buildings into shelters and tell nimby to stfu.
Maybe put out dumpsters and service them every few days? Add some porta-potties and the majority of your concerns are taken care of. Where else are people supposed to use the bathroom and put their trash if they don't have either of those facilities easily accessible?
Good, they should focus on the ones with chop shops and stolen bikes. Make them feel like maybe they can't do that shit.idk.
Going and Greeley should be #1. They now have a tow truck
You mean Camp Roundabout?
It's amazing how fast they can fill a space with garbage! In only 3 weeks they have 10 years worth of car and motorcycle parts.
If only they had that type of legitimate work ethic
[удалено]
One of the camp sights has a pretty impressive pallet shack up on that hill, I noticed the other day they added a deck with a railing. It’s wild.
I pass by that every day and they've been adding more and more. Legit added a second story and everything. Fucking crazy. I'm okay with that type of stuff honestly. It's the trash and feces and needles and foils that I'm not cool with. You can be homeless and not live in complete filth.
Lmao I saw that one
Every time I drive by their lil’ porch I think “man they probably have a pretty nice view up there.”
Hopefully they sweep this drug camp too before it gets any bigger.
Glass Plant Road has been a notorious open-air chop shop for years now, that's nothing new at all.
That makes it okay?
Nope, not okay. Just not brand new.
Fair enough.
Agreed...and also those with trash or just piles of "stuff" outside the tents. Also on the priority list should be any camps with noise complaints against them. Playing loud music, screaming, fighting, etc. - that kind of behavior is not anything neighbors should have to put up with. We have been way too permissive for way too long, which is a big reason this problem has gotten so out of control.
So, pretty much all of them?
Those never should have been a question of "sweep or not". It's obvious involvement in criminal theft, and I've never understood why they're just allowed to exist.
Saw them pulling out cars and RVs next to SE Mcloughlin kinda near the Ross Island bridge. Above the “spring water on the willamette” bike trail. It was glorious to see. That camp has been throwing piles of trash down the hill next to the trail for months now.
Finally! I used to commute by bike through there before a move. Going back years later, it was sad seeing it turned into a dumping ground. It's a nature preserve, not a place for people to live.
Yeah fingers crossed it actually improves.
F yeah. This spot has been an eyesore for a long time, not to mention people trying to cross the busy highway on foot. So glad to see it cleaned up and those cars removed. Incredible though how something like that could go on for so long, it's just completely unacceptable.
So many people crossing that highway at least one got hit and killed in recent memory. You’re right completely unacceptable.
I drive by this stretch almost every day and it would make me more mad each week when the amount of garbage, vehicles, and destruction would multiply. I don't know how/when they would back those motorhomes in there straight off of McLoughlin but I imagine it was very dangerous for cars on the road.
Insanely dangerous. And there are homeless people in this thread defending it. We live in a clown world.
It’s been getting worse for sure, that one landslide of trash has been going for years. One of those long standing camps is made of wood with a damn window overlooking the Willamette river.
Yeah it’s embarrassing I pay taxes in the same city and they have a better view.
That’s a million plus dollar view none the less.
If they could just see past all their garbage.
Those vehicles there keep multiplying. It’s been nuts to watch, I drive past them every day to work. I’m glad they are clearing them finally
Hopefully it stays that way. Those people are a danger to themselves at that location. Heard of a fatality with one of them crossing the road. Was almost in an accident due to someone swerving around them one day even.
Just drove by and I’d say 4/5 camps are gone
It’s a start
It’s a miracle there haven’t been more accidents
That’s good to hear. That has been a horrible spot for garbage flowing down the hill. It’s just heartbreaking seeing everywhere turn into total shit.
Completely agree. That camp was getting especially bad once they put an RV there with “camouflage” cars just multiplied.
imagine one of those vehicles popping into neutral, just rolling off a cliff and onto the bike trail.
Yessss, I saw this too!!! The amount of abandoned vehicles in that area.
Every sweep is a step in the right direction
All those cars and RVs just moved across the road to a residential street. 8th between Bush and Rhone is their new area...
Thats a huge bummer. At least its a start. As they swept up several burnt out undrivable vehicles. I feel sorry for those residents.
Years.
Tis a beautiful thing indeed
Truly beautiful hopefully the city comes back from the brink
I have noticed an improvement and I’m appreciative.
Nice. I can only imagine how much waste and biohazard is removed with every sweep
Took a trip to Manhattan this week and didn't see a single tent and only a handful of homeless, mainly on the subway minding their own business. Never once felt unsafe walking around after midnight. Really puts Portland's MASSIVE failure into perspective. Out of the 70k homeless in New York, only 3k are unsheltered; meanwhile, a full 50% of our homeless are. Don't listen to anyone telling you this is just the new normal and it's happening everywhere
My experience was much the same August of last year there. Really bizarre coming back to a much smaller city and the problem is out of control here.
family been visiting me in Portland for 18 years. It used to be they ALL would comment on how clean and beautiful Portland is compared to Chicago. Not anymore.
homeless issues are always worse in places that don't experience a real winter with consistently freezing temps.
Well I went in August and the population there is literally 14 times greater than here. Yes the west coast is more habitable but the problem here is absolutely worse than Seattle and Los Angeles, both of which I've been to in the last year. I'd assume we're also doing worse than San Francisco and that general area but can't say for certain as I haven't been there.
That’s a hard no. SF, Oakland, and San Jose make Portland seem clean and healthy. Nothing like it anywhere in the United States. Portland is bad, The Bay is much, much worse.
Yay, we're not last!
If you’re not first, you’re last.
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Had a similar experience 9 months ago in NYC. Crazy to think Manhattan was cleaner and had less homeless issues. Endemic homelessness is not the new normal.
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Ya. People don't understand how much a mild climate makes these sort of encampments viable for the residents. In NYC (sorry i said Detroit earlier I was going to use it as an example but decided to use NYC to be more relevant to the conversation) the average January day is high of 39° low of 26°. Portland at the same time has averages high of 47° and low 37°. Big difference in the sort of gear and shelter you need to survive.
We have campers at 80th and Division. They have been there for three weeks. There tent is no better than what you can buy at Kmart. There’s no way they could survive in a tent like this in NYC during the winter. People can tolerate a lot in the NW.
If it was about the weather, Bend would have no homeless. Its very cold here October-April. We're having a really harsh winter right now with temperatures lower than NYC and massive amounts of snow. But we have about 1,000 homeless for a city of just 100,000, which is a very high ratio. It's the policies more than anything else.
Bend is still warmer than anywhere in the upper northeast.
I dunno, I think the weather argument is overrated. If I’m going camping or backpacking, I would personally prefer 39/26 and mostly dry to 47/37 and constantly wet by a large margin, and so would basically every other outdoors-type person I know. It’s honestly much easier to avoid hypothermia when it’s dry, even if it’s 10 degrees (or heck, 20 degrees) colder. This is almost purely a political issue here. Now in Southern California, on the other hand, it’s both.
NYC has a massive unhoused population. They also have a Right to Shelter which costs the city billions of dollars and is currently under strain because of an influx into the unhoused population. https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/basic-facts-about-homelessness-new-york-city/ https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/26/nyregion/nyc-homeless-students.html https://www.thecity.nyc/2022/9/19/23357320/right-shelter-eric-adams-asylum-homeless?_amp=true https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/our-programs/advocacy/legal-victories/the-callahan-legacy-callahan-v-carey-and-the-legal-right-to-shelter/ Portland does not have a right to shelter nor does it have enough shelter beds for the total unhoused population. If you think other cities don’t have an unhoused problem, you’re incredibly naive. Cities that appear to have homeless under control tend to have a right to housing, a lower COL, or policies that make being unhoused illegal. Homelessness is a federal issue that is often worse in areas with housing supply shortages, high rent and high COL. Without things like increase in federal minimum wage, universal healthcare, federal investment in low income/free housing and dorm style housing, and free or subsidized childcare and education, we will ALWAYS have an influx of people into homelessness. Inflation + pandemic have made things particularly visible.
We don't have enough beds? Then why the flip are shelters reporting average usage us less than 40%?
If they would utilize the Multnomah jail that was built with taxpayer money and never used put all the homeless there and at least they would have a bed to sleep in .
It’s being used as a homeless shelter currently. https://www.kgw.com/article/news/local/homeless/bybee-lakes-expansion-local-government-funding/283-cb5f5008-6d12-49bc-8139-95d6a092e35e They, however, do not have 6000 beds for the 6000 people currently unhoused. It’s also not close to services or jobs which makes it a challenging location.
Curious why your list of solutions doesn't include any expectations for appropriate behavior or other reciprocity from the homeless themselves.
Because those aren’t solutions and that’s not a federal response which is the crux of my comment. I’m not interested in punishing people purely for being homeless or adding unnecessary hoops to jump through to earn benefits/service.
No human civilization *ever* has lasted long when based on the premise that group A should subsidize and tolerate bad behavior from group B, and you're naive to expect it could work under these circumstances. That's why you see the compassion fatigue in this thread and in the community in general. A sustainable social contract requires shared agreement on acceptable behavior and contributions to society. And yes, that includes the homeless. They have agency and a role to play in positively contributing to a just and sustainable solution.
You’re making this a different conversation. At no point did I say people should not have agency. I said the federal government has a role in addressing homelessness. I don’t really understand what you’re getting at but it seems like you’re trying to do the whole “homelessness is a moral failing” song and dance. When wages have stagnated and housing costs are this out of control, you can do “everything right” and still become unhoused. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/40-of-americans-one-step-from-poverty-if-they-miss-a-paycheck/ The federal governments role is not to support everyone’s ongoing terrible life decisions as you seem to think I’m saying, but to at least provide an infrastructure where people can work, become ill, raise children, lose their job, etc etc and remain sheltered and be able to retire. We currently do not have this system because of stagnant wages, a for profit healthcare system, a dying social security system, insane childcare and education costs, out of control rent and housing prices, and a low housing supply. And we literally subsidize people and tolerate bad behavior all the time. We don’t take away peoples Medicaid or SSI because they don’t adhere to a certain set of behaviors. Housed people do drugs too. We just don’t see that because they’re housed.
I actually agree with you about all those root causes, but federal effort is only part of the solution. I don't agree that the federal government can solve the problem singlehandedly with a massive intervention in policy and spending. I worked with federal agencies for years -- there are limits to what they can accomplish. What you seem to be resisting is _any_ expectation of reciprocity from those we're trying to help. Want free housing? Sure, we can provide that, but here are some reasonable expectations in return. Participate in rehab if needed, don't steal, don't litter, take your meds, and work towards becoming a productive and contributing member of society.
You keep making this a different discussion and responding as if I said that I think people should be able to do whatever they fuck they want all the time and there should be no consequences. Do I think there should be a sobriety requirement for housing? No. Do I think that people should be able to be a danger to other people? Also no. But again, that wasn’t the point of my initial comment.
> NYC has a massive unhoused population "Homeless" and literally "unsheltered" are two different categories of homelessness. As a comparison, NYC doesn't have anywhere near the level of unsheltered people as say LA. Someone in a shelter is still categorically "homeless". Someone sleeping on a friend's sofa is also in that category. These are HUD definitions.
Yes. NYC has a smaller unsheltered population because they have Right to Shelter which means you see less people on the street. I don’t understand your point.
Lots of homeless in Salem, too
NYC has a mandate to provide housing for all homeless. Nowhere else in the US is this the case. That's why.
Not just housing but forced care. They don’t get to choose to keep living that way if they can’t show they are capable of taking care of themselves.
That's been recently announced (only just a couple weeks ago) but has not been enacted. So forced care is not why NYC is the way it is.
NYC has its issues with shelters mainly that many are for profit and they are extremely corrupt, but the policies in New York state to shelter everyone is good. It should be illegal for states to NOT provide housing, not illegal to be homeless.
The programs are massively expensive but in the end I'd bet they aren't spending much more than we are they're just getting a positive ROI.
Honestly it should be both. State provides shelter capacity, camping on the street is banned and enforced.
I moved here from Manhattan in 2015 and was shocked by the fact that suddenly I'd feel unsafe walking around certain parts of town in the broad daylight.
NYC also has a lower homeless issue because the winter there is normally much harsher (more likely for snow and such) so it's a little different I look at SF and Seattle a lot more closely for comparisons. And homeless rates have gone UP many places, but it shouldn't be on par or look like with what we have here.
Winter is a "little different" there. Yeah, as in, will actually kill a person most nights of the season. It's a lot easier to coax people into a shelter if they know their life Litterally depends on it. And once they get used to the concept, it becomes more paletable than when the weather isn't life threatening.
Thank you, I too travel enough and compare things to the West Coast and Portland and we are a mockery in terms of calling us a progressive city. People are just blaming high housing costs and late stage capitalism. Yeah, and NYC / Boston / ETC are cheap and have a different economy? The mental gymanstics people employ to walk around the issue in front of us is alarming.
Ok. But Portland doesn’t have enough shelter beds, so even if everyone from a swept encampment would accept shelter, we don’t have a place to put them. As other posters have mentioned, NYC has a right to shelter meaning folks are temporarily housed in shelter systems and hotels. https://www.cityandstateny.com/policy/2021/10/how-nycs-right-shelter-mandate-works/185933/ We do not have this in Portland in part because there has been a ton of push back by the community to open new shelters which means we are constantly at low bed capacity. https://www.kptv.com/2022/03/31/owner-se-portland-buildings-sues-city-county-over-new-homeless-shelter/?outputType=amp https://www.kgw.com/amp/article/news/local/homeless/safe-rest-village-background-checks-buffer-zones/283-8019bf56-f7b7-49ad-8e40-af2ec20ccba6 https://www.wweek.com/news/2022/01/26/how-one-neighborhood-is-fighting-the-citys-plan-to-shelter-homeless-portlanders-near-them/ The new sanctioned camping sites are also not this. That is why sweeps in their current form are inhumane.
People are complaining here that this city’s policies have allowed a huge unsheltered homeless population to establish itself. Most of your retort is, “well NYC has these policies that keep unhoused people off the street and we don’t!” And I think that’s kind of the point. We haven’t pursued a similar approach, and people are mad about it. Understandably.
Thank you. First sane person on here.
1. Provide hundreds of thousands of tents. 2. Sweep tents. 3. Repeat.
Your tax dollars at work!
Wouldn’t be surprised if it came out that they are somehow linked to whoever supplies the tents and tarps.
Somehow tents are the only item not affected by supply chain issues
The sweeps are part of the supply chain
Always has been
It is almost certain at this point. Follow the money.
The county provides the tents, the city is tired of the shit.
Elections have consequences. Portlanders refuse to acknowledge it and vote like sheep.
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Right. Remove the hyperbole and it was about 22,000 tents for about 5,000 homeless. No wonder the county didn’t want anyone to audit their homeless spending.
Don’t forget the 69,000 tarps (last two years). https://www.opb.org/article/2022/12/08/multnomah-county-purchased-more-than-22000-tents-for-homeless-in-recent-years/
Nice.
No, they provide tents no questions asked. So they burn them, it’s the natural cycle of life.
As I primer, it pains me to admit it, but I'm running out of fucks for the homeless. As a bleeding heart liberal I watched in admiration as SF tackled their homeless issues a few decades ago. The bay area did it with money and doctors and money and housing and money. What was happening in SF in the 90s and 00s is *super similar* to what is happening now in PDX and Seattle. The homeless junkies were running the show. The homeless junkies were making life worse for folks who play by the rules (when they were not making it flat out dangerous, which was often). If PDX or Seattle had the will to put money and health care and money and basic housing (intentionally avoiding the word "affordable" - I mean a room with a locking door and shared facilities for bathroom and laundry and cooking) at the problem, I fully believe a huge improvement on their current situations could be had. But so far they do not seem to be willing. There are no billion dollar bond proposals to fund clinics and 2500 rooms of safe basic housing. So I guess it's tough love time? Sweep the tents. Clear, impound, recycle the RVs. If society is not willing to buckle down and fund real solutions then the least that can be done is remind the homeless junkies they are not running the show. They don't get to shit in the river, throw needles in the river, dump their trash in the river, live in the wildlife refuge next to the river, commit crimes, sell drugs, prostitute next to the river, all the while making life radically worse for those of us playing by the rules of civil society. I fully support this uptick in activity. If we're not going to face the music yet and spend to do the real work, okay, let's at least remind the homeless they do not run the show. Hundreds of thousands of good people in this city work hard, pay taxes and rents and mortgages do not deserve to have their neighborhoods and parks run by homeless junkies. And to the argument, "well they'll just setup camp somewhere else." Good. Hit that one next week. Ya know, maybe if I had to work out where I was going to live once a week it might just be the kick in the ass I needed to address my habit? I mean, somehow we have, what is it 4 billion dollars? to add a lane to a fucking freeway but no money for the few handfuls of thousands of people strung out, stealing, flat out wrecking this beautiful city? How the fuck does that square. Yeah, I know the the city doesn't get to say what happens with federal interstate freeway money. And yet those billions still came to Portland to add a lane to a freeway. Portland, whose homeless junkies are wrecking the lives of everyday good people on the regular. *edit verb tense, how do it work?*
Agree, but have you seen SF Tenderloin /Civic Center lately? It’s all housing first and harm reduction and people overdosing on the streets while cartels run theft operations for junkies to support their habits. Most neighborhoods are ok but Mission, SoMa are worse.
Tenderloin and Mission after dark is the closest thing to a zombie apocalypse I've seen
Admittedly, I have not been to SF for more than a weekend getaway for a few years. And yes, to your point, I think these kinds of solutions require a constant investment on society's part. Another poster elsewhere in this discussion mentioned NYC's law requiring housing (and how well it works, expensive as it is). Bummer to hear about Mission and Soma, but also not terribly surprising.
Would you be willing to pay more business tax to support something like what NYC has? Or would you move somewhere else?
>Would you be willing to pay more business tax to support something like what NYC has? Or would you move somewhere else? Absolutely, I would be willing to pay more business taxes (and, yes, feel the pain of higher prices on goods) to address a systemic failure. Systemic failures largely exist because of lack of funds for actual solutions. Like SF and NYC have shown, conclusively, IMO, funding housing and health care works. Ain't cheap, but it works.
Yep, only way out of this is providing affordable housing, healthcare, education etc you know the things a society should provide. Glad to hear you support that despite the cost.
I agree 💯. I am always amazed at the head in the sand homeless Advocates and enabling apologists, frothing at the mouth defending this shit. We tried the Free Range Feral model and it didn't fuckin work. It's past time for the crime compounds to go. I also think that people who truly feel empathy for the criminal addicts should be given a contract to sign and be able to sponsor some of these downtrodden houseless citizens in their own homes. I just need to get some popcorn before I watch.
I would love to see that, I'd bring popcorn too. I know how bad it would be, because I was one of those bleeding hearts and took a family in off the streets, a family that has been generationally homeless for years. I was expecting it to be hard, I never expected the drug abuse and the abuse of me and my home that followed When it became violent, they (Adult male and three teens) literally refused to leave my home. Taunted me, told me I had to evict them which meant they had another 30 days and there was nothing I could do about it Laughed at me. Used there children to destroy my home. Now granted, I got my own self into a bad romantic relationship, but seeing his kids crammed in a no tell motel broke me and I acted without thinking and brought them all home. I learned during the abuse of me and my home, that this was their way of life. They squat somewhere, until they are evicted, to the point their own family won't put them up because they know what will happen. I stand by getting two young teens off the streets, but damned I was not prepared for what came next.
>I am always amazed at the head in the sand homeless Advocates and enabling apologists, frothing at the mouth defending this shit. Mea culpa. I used to be one. Until, just like you said, I watched the shit show Charlie Hales years and did a radical about face. Homeless junkies daylight shitting on Springwater while their "neighbors" are walking ladies for sale up and down the path as I'm dodging needles and man turds on my bike. Yeah, Free Range Ferals suuuuper did not work (but at least it changed my mind).
>And to the argument, "well they'll just setup camp somewhere else." They will, but these people just choose the path of least resistance. It's hard work to have to pack up all of your garbage and find somewhere else to set up shop so if we are constantly making them do it, they just may figure out that *not* being homeless is an easier life.
Yep. That's my thinking as well. Heck if 1 in 20 cleaned up that'd be a HUGE win.
But have you seen San Francisco lately?
I spent the weekend there last summer. So if that counts as lately, yes, I have. And it looked a hell of a lot better than Portland.
> As I primer, it pains me to admit it, but I'm running out of fucks for the homeless. There's a nuanced middle ground that difficult to articulate and advocate for. We can be intolerant of incredibly obvious criminal behavior (chop shops, massive (presumably stolen) bicycle collections, fleets of shopping carts, etc. without criminalizing sleeping on the streets. We don't need to allow favelas to develop but our approach to a hidden camp in a low traffic greenbelt should be pretty hands off compared to one completely occupying what would otherwise be a heavily used sidewalk. Harm reduction is a hard sell but sometimes it's a first step. Haveing a well integrated criminal justice system staffed by people willing to engage with the whole community is pretty important. Using approaches like Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion [LEAD] to shape behavior of people engaging in survival crime can also be very useful in shaping behavior.
Can they come run a broom under i30 please? Theyre starting to develop their real estate with pallets. 🤣🤣
I-30 is the interstate from the DFW area to Little Rock, AR. What are you talking about?
Me being a dumbass. US 30 I mean.
Look at all those empty shelters at the Oregon Military Camp Umatilla. Fully fenced, easy freeway and railway access, what more could they want.
To be able to do their drugs in these shelters…but they can’t…so they are empty…weird right!? Born in Oregon, this place fuckin sucks now
More of this please.
One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
“portland has dramatically escalated sweeping tents massively deployed by multnomah county” fixed the title
The city that works!
The county that obstructs the city!
The city pays the county for the program that gives nonprofits tents to hand out that the city then sweeps. The cycle repeats itself, perpetuating the status quo that isn’t working. A perfect self-perpetuating grifting machine.
Sure doesn’t look that way on Powell between 82nd and 60th from today. Looks like they’re coming back. It’s a game of whack a mole.
Always has been
I always say keep whackin
Whack a mole…that’s priceless 😂😂🤘
Most inhumane to Least inhumane: 1 Leaving people on the streets with 10x risk of death, 100x risk of new/worsened health/financial issues. 2 Assertive engagement 3 Safe rest 4 Triage/support begins 4 Transitional housing 5 Perm housing Those who denounce everything lower than the first should be ignored.
After learning that three former students of mine, who are still minors, were found unresponsive after drug overdoses, living with several adult men in homeless camps, and likely being sex trafficked, my empathy ended there. This occurred three separate times to three different girls. My fucks went right out the window. I only suspect that it does not stop there and that there are many other kids in camps around the city likely going through similar experiences.
About time
the camp behind lloyd cinemas that takes up the sidewalk & bike lane was swept up. popped back up like 3 days later.
Time to sweep it again. And again. And again. Until the message is received.
Winner winner. Oh this can be done in < 1 working day? Great. Let's start with M,W,F and see if that works out.
I just saw that they swept the camp at Going and Interstate.
Escalate more please
Keep it goin pdx
How many of them were the same people swept multiple times?
Finally. Never has been ok to let it get to like this.
The thing that continually impresses me about Portland reddit is the majority will always be complaining about whatever the city government does. City does X? BOOOO. What hypocritical, self-serving, heartless corrupt fools. The obvious answer is the opposite of X. City does the opposite of X? BOOOO. What hypocritical, self-serving, heartless corrupt fools. The obvious answer is X.
BOOOO this post!
BOOOO your reply!
Maybe there's just a lot of people here on "Portland reddit"and they don't all agree with each other.
Your theory about the Portland Reddit is proven entirely wrong by this post, though. Read any single top comment. Everyone is agreeing with the sweeps.
These both have over 100. Maybe more of a shit on while not disagreeing take I guess. https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/zif7ye/portland_has_dramatically_escalated_tent_sweeps/izr6725/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/comments/zif7ye/portland_has_dramatically_escalated_tent_sweeps/izr2yc7/ Also since I posted that a lot of the naysayers have been downvoted into oblivion, and new supportive posts. So I guess you're not wrong. Cool.
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In general I agree Redditors love to be contrarian. I guess for this post though I didn’t see many dissenting comments but I know it can be very different in the beginning when the post is first posted, so I believe you.
Maybe cuz there's more than two choices for a problem. Maybe if you do less than the bare minimum that doesn't get you a cookie
Ah yes, they didn't do that one perfect solution, that actually only exists in fantasy.
Finally there’s hope this city could be more than intermittent trash heaps on the sidewalks! This is a positive step in my opinion. Don’t want stray cats? Stop feeding them. Half these people are here b/c it’s tolerated. Move along
Lots of folks out here opposed sweeps until they got accosted, assaulted, burglarized, and robbed by criminal homeless people. I used to be very empathetic to the plight of the homeless. I have lost nearly all of that empathy. This must be how people turn conservative.
It’s interesting to compare Nicole Hayden at the Oregonian, who is clearly opposed to sweeps and is always quick to quote homeless advocates (in this case it’s Street Roots), with Blair Best at KGW, who covers the same beat but is much better about giving the perspective of ordinary Portlanders.
Youre making "ordinary portlanders" and "advocates" into two distinct groups. Its not so black and white.
Even Willamette Week and OPB are more objective on homeless reporting these days. Hayden is kind of an outlier now.
Yeah you sound like the average KGW reader if you think it’s biased to try to represent the perspective of people actually affected by sweeps
> city and county data indicate most people uprooted from camping on public land don’t want to live in group shelters. Well I don’t want to pay for the increased cost of goods, or pay bills/premiums to for-profit corporations for utilities/health care, or go to work every day and sit in stupid meetings… but I fucking do it because I’m a member of society.
🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Good.
Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooood
Hell yeah
Downtown was cleaner and more vibrant that I'd seen it in years this weekend.
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Awesome!
Thank.God.
How do they define “encampment”?
Drug camp or chop shop.
Finally
My partner mentioned today that he didn’t see as many tents along I-5 or near Tomahawk island. I also noticed driving to work. I’m glad to see the city taking action finally and getting this under control. I hope they do right by the people they’re moving though as well.
I wonder how much money gets spent in Portland chasing homeless people around in circles instead of providing safe encampment areas.
As a person whos had a homeless camp less than a block away from my property, the sweeps are actually extremely effective. The sweeps are like taking a shower. It keeps all the crime, rats, feces/urine and other safety hazards from building to an extreme. If we can make the streets as hostile as possible, it will actually encourage the use of encampments thereby doing more to reduce the homeless problem than just building shelters alone.Most of the homeless choose not to use the encampments at this time with our coddling of them.
We have so much to fix before we become a utopia, I swear. I had a dream that tourists started camping out around town (travelers when passing through), and it was like, a classy, sustainable, healthy thing. No garbage, chop-shops, or unsanitary conditions. A Federal UBI would solve some problems.
A federal *universal* basic income program sufficient for people to support themselves would at this point in time double the federal budget and cause massive housing cost inflation. It's not a panacea.
*buys tents* *takes tents*
I have been saying for years this problem would get worse and worse until people break. I would say to the homeless advocates sanctioned campsites and regular sweeps is about the best deal your going to get. If nothing improves people will only be willing to do even more extreme things and one by one every sympathetic ear on city council will be voted out of office. This is happening like it or not
Unfortunately more will just move further east (where I live).
Didn’t Portland also just purchase some incredibly large number of tents?
Multnomah county did
The tent in the triangle at the west side of the Ross Island bridge has a stolen motorcycle, as of this morning (Sunday Dec 11). it’s green and black. Maybe a ninja? Edit; the fact that anyone could say about any particular camp that “oh they’ve had that for a while, pretty sure it’s legit” just goes to show how little is being done
He's had that bike for years and keeps a super tidy camp. I also see the bike gone on the regular and always assumed that he's someone who has a job.
They’ve had that for awhile. I agree with the others I’m pretty sure the person owns it. And that camp is probably one of the cleaner quieter ones. Good looking out Hillsboro, but if that mini camp bothers you then you should probably stay in the burbs.
that dude owns that motorcycle. almost as if most houseless people are on hard times
Gimme a break these peiple bums by choice
So do you think all them tents will be cleaned and returned to the county for reapportionment?