Speaking of the Homeless. (Portland: low income, transplants, renting)

[Supernova7]

I have read numerous posts that indicate how 9-10 months in Portland is filled with gloom, wetness, cold, drizzle and dark skies. Here's my question. If Portland has such a huge homeless population then where do all of these homeless people stay in such weather?? I'm sure that they are not all under a bridge or are they? It's hard to picture this kind of weather with thousands of people trapped in the cold and rain

How can Portland invest in urban development and neglect its most vulnerable citizens? This is supposed to be a liberal mecca! What's the city doing to help these people get good jobs, secure affordable housing, healthcare? I don't want to hear about these so called "emergency shelters" because they are nothing but warehouses. I want to hear what the city is doing to move people towards independence and self sufficiency????

Again, HOW are homeless people surviving in such weather?

[oldtintype]

I don't think Portland has a bigger homeless population than any other city its size. As for how do they survive? Shelters, free food and the fact that it doesn't get below freezing very often.

San Francisco has way more homeless people than Portland as do other cities. I'm not sure where the "so many homesless people" statistic comes from.

[oldtintype]

Also, Portland has done a lot for the homeless. There is tons of median income housing in Portland, ranging from 30% to 80%, lots of HUD housing and so on. This is a pretty good area for low income people, at least compared to where I've lived before.

And rain doesn't kill you. I just crack up and how big of a deal people make about the weather, which by the way is beautiful as I type. Sunny with a breeze. And now 9-10 months of gloom? The weather in Portland is absolutely gorgeous July through September, and mixed the rest of the time, with the only real "dark" periods being Nov-Jan, though even then there are sunny days. Spring is beautiful. Although it does rain part of the time, there wouldn't be the amazingly beautiful collection of spring flowers that we have here if it wasn't sunny a good part of the time. Flowers don't grow in the dark, despite what many people on here would have you believe Portland is like. About Feb or March things start blooming and they don't stop until Mid-October. You have to have sun for flowers.

[kelcat]

Oldintype, thanks so much for putting the homeless and the weather issues in perspective. It seems like if a meme starts (like the homeless situation, weather or employment issues) in anyway at all it only grows and eventually a molehill of an issue becomes a mountain. Maybe it's because Portland has so few other issues that the only things to complain about are the only things that might be compelling to talk about. Anyway thanks again for bringing some perspective to this and the other threads.

[Supernova7]

I'm not sure as to what the homeless population is in numbers between Portland and San Francisco but it's worth looking in to. Apparently everything I've read to date indicates that Portland has a large number of homeless, comparing it with San Francisco is really irrelevant. It's not "freezing" in Portland but it's not warm either, so where do 2,000 homeless people reside? Statistics indicate that there is only a 1/4 of shelter beds, meaning that only 500 people have emergency shelter overnight, leaving 1,500 people destitute.
My impression is that many people come to Portland having been given unrealistic information and thus end up struggling in a limited and competitive economy, at least that seems to be the common agreement amongst most of the locals.

I do believe that it's important to have concrete information for anyone considering such a move. The homeless appear to be a fair mix of transplants as well as locals who have been victimized by a non robust economy. This means that on any given night Portland has over 1,500 people sleeping in the rain. That's upsetting to hear!

[Supernova7]

Originally Posted by kelcat

Oldintype, thanks so much for putting the homeless and the weather issues in perspective. It seems like if a meme starts (like the homeless situation, weather or employment issues) in anyway at all it only grows and eventually a molehill of an issue becomes a mountain. Maybe it's because Portland has so few other issues that the only things to complain about are the only things that might be compelling to talk about. Anyway thanks again for bringing some perspective to this and the other threads.

Homeless, weather and employment issues are VERY REAL issues and extremely important to most people. I wouldn't call these "molehill" issues as they have direct impact on your quality of life and testify to the character, soul and morality of a city. I'm glad to hear people offering input that's not sided to glorifying a city but giving a well rounded perspective.

[oldtintype]

No but people are exaggerating the weather and this board in particular seems to have a lot of people who originally came from very hot climates (or the desert) where there was little to no rain at all so their perspective is towards the extreme. It's 80 degrees today and beautiful but again, that's not going to be enough for some of these people who think if it's not 100 degrees it's not summer. The PNW is NOT a hot climate. That doesn't mean it isn't sunny and pleasant a fair amount of time. No, not all of the time but it is not 9 months of gloom.

[oldtintype]

Homelessness in Portland is caused by the same reasons it exists everywhere-- substance abuse, mental illness, abusive relationships, unaffordable housing, abuse by parents, bad credit and unemployment. Portland is not special in having a homelss population.

Here's Portland's 10 year plan to eradicate homelessness:
Ending Homelessness

And it does make sense to compare cities. My point is that every large city has a homeless population. It is no worse in Portland than it is in similar sized cities, so I have no idea why this even became a hot topic.

Have you even been to Portland yet?

[babycoleslaw]

Originally Posted by oldtintype

Homelessness in Portland is caused by the same reasons it exists everywhere-- substance abuse, mental illness, abusive relationships, unaffordable housing, abuse by parents, bad credit and unemployment. Portland is not special in having a homelss population.

Here's Portland's 10 year plan to eradicate homelessness:
Ending Homelessness

And it does make sense to compare cities. My point is that every large city has a homeless population. It is no worse in Portland than it is in similar sized cities, so I have no idea why this even became a hot topic.

Have you even been to Portland yet?

It does seem that a large number of homeless are young teens rebelling for whatever reason who get hooked up in drugs which then take over their lives.
Broke my heart this weekend to see a pregnant youth sitting with her dog and a sign asking for help....her 'friend' up the street, obviously high on meth, asked my husband if he had given her $$$. When he said no she said, "You should give my friend $$$. She's pregnant and needs an abortion!" Well, I can tell you that if we had given her $$$, it would NOT have gone to an abortion (which I am opposed to but don't feel it is my right to tell others what to do) at 8 months pregnant....and the one who suffers the most is this unborn child who will live a life full of disability (most likely FAS or something else affecting brain development) because their mother used drugs while pregnant....sigh....why IS it society's problem and not these kids' parents????? Where did parenting go?????
I'm so thrilled to move to PDX next month but am, myself, terrified about raising my kids in an area where drugs may or may not be more readily accessible. I will take them to visit rehab places and soup kitchens throughout their childhood so they can witness first hand what choices in life can bring you....

[oldtintype]

Not trying to be rude but drugs aren't a Portland problem, they're an everywhere problem. I think if anything kids in the boondocks have more access to drugs out of sheer boredom than kids in the city. Just because it may be more obvious in some locations doesn't mean it doesn't happen everywhere.

I went to a really fancy high school and the "best" and richest kids were the one with the biggest drug habits.