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BTW, there's nothing stopping Portland's homeless from applying for work with the big processors. It's extremely hard work, probably more so than Oregon's agricultural jobs, but if they can do it, they'll walk away at the end of the season with enough money to get a fresh start somewhere.
I'm a specialty gourmet processor, and my salmon comes to the plant filleted and cleaned, so the hard part is already done. I don't require overtime, and I've got a limited amount of employee housing. We pay well because we require a certain skill set -- it's not grunt work. Our homeless employees -- from Portland, btw, haven't worked out even though they had the skills we need and interviewed well.
We run a business, not a daycare center for wayward adults. If an employee wants to have a beer off the clock, I've got no problem with that. But chronic drunkeness, picking fights, making sexual comments about female employees as well as women customers who've come into the retail part of the business, hitting on me to the extent where I felt uncomfortable on my own property, making comments about choking MY DOG, and generally being unable to do the job -- well, you can have your homeless back. I don't know what the answer is, but at least I actually tried, which is probably more than anyone on this forum has done.
Please don't "envision" businesses like mine as being part of the solution to the mess Portland created.[/QUOTE]
Right which is where supported housing and medications to maintain abstinence comes in...
and, instead of fining them, after a certain number of offences - theres a mandatory housing period, kinda like jail but more like a residential locked housing where they stay clean and off drugs....
I'm sorry, but I'm not equipped to enforce mandatory abstinence. I can't -- and won't -- play cop or counselor. We're a business, not a social service agency. I doubt you have any idea of how remote it is, either; their isn't any available property for halfway houses, let alone the necessary services that people in these situations need.
How about Portland businesses offering jobs to the homeless while the city of Portland supplies them with supported housing and the services necessary to maintain sobriety?
BTW, there's nothing stopping Portland's homeless from applying for work with the big processors. They advertise extensively in the lower forty-eight, btw, and only hire from overseas when they can't meet their employment needs from among U.S.citizens. It's extremely hard work, probably more so than Oregon's agricultural jobs, but if they can do it, they'll walk away at the end of the season with enough money to get a fresh start somewhere.
As far as relocating your homeless to Alaska in general, the state is in a severe recession and doesn't need your problems right now.
I'm a specialty gourmet processor, and my salmon comes to the plant filleted and cleaned, so the hard part is already done. I don't require overtime, and I've got a limited amount of employee housing. We pay well because we require a certain skill set -- it's not grunt work. Our homeless employees -- from Portland, btw, haven't worked out even though they had the skills we need and interviewed well.
We run a business, not a daycare center for wayward adults. If an employee wants to have a beer off the clock, I've got no problem with that. But chronic drunkeness, picking fights, making sexual comments about female employees as well as women customers who've come into the retail part of the business and my neighbor's teenage daughter, hitting on me to the extent where I felt uncomfortable on my own property, making comments about choking MY DOG, and generally being unable to do the job -- well, you can have your homeless back. I don't know what the answer is, but at least I actually tried, which is probably more than anyone on this forum has done.
Please don't "envision" businesses like mine as being part of the solution to the mess Portland created.
Whoa sorry, didn't mean to strike a nerve. I'm just spitballing here! Many of them clearly have issues coping with being a normal member of society. That's why we need a range of solutions to fit most of the circumstances. Working at your cannery could work for the type who are homeless for economic reasons (eviction, laid off, etc) but are generally good people and hard workers and just need a fresh start and some time to get back on their feet. Probably wouldn't work for insane junkie type homeless. Obviously employers would have to opt-in. No one can force you to hire an insane junkie. But maybe if there were a tax credit or something along those lines business could be persuaded to give decent guys a chance.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Metlakatla
I'm sorry, but I'm not equipped to enforce mandatory abstinence. I can't play cop or counselor. We're a business, not a social service agency.
How about Portland businesses offering jobs to the homeless while the city of Portland supplies them with supporting housing and the services necessary to maintain sobriety?
Portland doesn't have a labor shortage. Many rural areas do, as well as cheap housing and a problem with population decline.
I'm sorry, but I'm not equipped to enforce mandatory abstinence. I can't play cop or counselor. We're a business, not a social service agency.
How about Portland businesses offering jobs to the homeless while the city of Portland supplies them with supporting housing and the services necessary to maintain sobriety?
no not you Metlakatla, its a specialized field, more than any one business, city, or even family can be expected to handle- successfully on their own, really.
It really is a national problem. Its too piecemeal to tackle on a city by city basis- taxes are already high enough in Portland (although not as high as some places I have lived).
I think we could demand more for our federal tax dollars.
Well, you did strike a nerve by proposing my industry as a partial solution to Portland's problems.
Quote:
Many of them clearly have issues coping with being a normal member of society. That's why we need a range of solutions to fit most of the circumstances. Working at your cannery could work for the type who are homeless for economic reasons (eviction, laid off, etc) but are generally good people and hard workers and just need a fresh start and some time to get back on their feet.
The homeless we hired seemed normal enough but just down on their luck. Like I stated before, they interviewed well and had the job skills we were looking for. They weren't "insane junkie types;" they would not have been hired if that had been the case.
Portland has a lower unemployment rate than anywhere in Alaska. And what makes you think Alaska has cheap housing? Or any housing, in many areas? Hell, Portland's unemployment rate is actually a little less than the national average. Surely there are barista jobs, food service and retail jobs the homeless could do.
There isn't a tax break big enough to go through that again. Deal with your own mess, Portland.
ETA I used to feel differently about this issue back during The Great Recession, when very few people in Portland could find jobs of any kind. Not so much anymore; it's got plenty of jobs.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 04-11-2017 at 04:44 PM..
As far as Kansas processing plants going without workers, it seems there's very little housing there in rural areas. That seems be an issue in much of rural America.
Well, you did strike a nerve by proposing my industry as a partial solution to Portland's problems.
The homeless we hired seemed normal enough but just down on their luck. Like I stated before, they interviewed well and had the job skills we were looking for. They weren't "insane junkie types;" they would not have been hired if that had been the case.
Portland has a lower unemployment rate than anywhere in Alaska. And what makes you think Alaska has cheap housing? Or any housing, in many areas? Hell, Portland's unemployment rate is actually a little less than the national average. Surely there are barista jobs, food service and retail jobs the homeless could do.
There isn't a tax break big enough to go through that again. Deal with your own mess, Portland.
ETA I used to feel differently about this issue back during The Great Recession, when very few people in Portland could find jobs of any kind. Not so much anymore; it's got plenty of jobs.
It's like you're on the lookout in case someone in a city 1000 miles away suggests that unskilled homeless could find employment in your locale. I'm sorry I mentioned Alaska. It's not about you.
Unskilled labor cannot afford to live here and other expensive cities. Some very inexpensive cities have an acute shortage of unskilled labor, population decline, and very low housing costs that can be met on a blue collar salary. All I suggested is that maybe those two problems could be solved with one solution with some creative and focused programmatic solutions for responsible individuals and families.
BTW, there's nothing stopping Portland's homeless from applying for work with the big processors. They advertise extensively in the lower forty-eight, btw, and only hire from overseas when they can't meet their employment needs from among U.S.citizens. It's extremely hard work, probably more so than Oregon's agricultural jobs, but if they can do it, they'll walk away at the end of the season with enough money to get a fresh start somewhere.
As far as relocating your homeless to Alaska in general, the state is in a severe recession and doesn't need your problems right now.
I'm a specialty gourmet processor, and my salmon comes to the plant filleted and cleaned, so the hard part is already done. I don't require overtime, and I've got a limited amount of employee housing. We pay well because we require a certain skill set -- it's not grunt work. Our homeless employees -- from Portland, btw, haven't worked out even though they had the skills we need and interviewed well.
We run a business, not a daycare center for wayward adults. If an employee wants to have a beer off the clock, I've got no problem with that. But chronic drunkeness, picking fights, making sexual comments about female employees as well as women customers who've come into the retail part of the business and my neighbor's teenage daughter, hitting on me to the extent where I felt uncomfortable on my own property, making comments about choking MY DOG, and generally being unable to do the job -- well, you can have your homeless back. I don't know what the answer is, but at least I actually tried, which is probably more than anyone on this forum has done.
Please don't "envision" businesses like mine as being part of the solution to the mess Portland created.
I really respect the fact that you tried. This is the reason I never wanted to be a landlord with renters living on my property.
If you had actually read my posts, you would have discovered that I have offered many solutions.
Some good, some not so good.
Go back and read them.
All you are doing is complaining about me, so tell me, what is the point of your posts?
Tell you what, feel free to move next to one of those homeless camps.
You'll soon get very very tired of your house, yard, and car being prowled, your mail and and packages disappearing, dodging discarded needles wherever you walk, the incredibly foul stench of human waste, garbage scattered everywhere, having someone high as helll ringing your doorbell at 2am for God knows what, loud and scary screaming at all hours of the day, harassment, aggressive panhandling whenever you make the mistake of going outside for whatever reason, including just getting your mail or trying to cross the street to get to your car.
I used to think all these horror stories about homeless people were just NIMBY whining until I had a relative who moved into a house next to a homeless camp that was well hidden in the woods behind his home.
Tell you what, it's very, very easy to judge others (like me) who are venting their frustrations when you lack the experience to identify with their circumstance.
I agree homelessness in Portland isn't being handled correctly, but normal everyday people have the right to safety and security in their homes and we don't need to put up with this crap.
I guess expecting our government to provide any sort of law enforcement or public safety services means that you are a total A-hole and are disrespecting the rights of the poor homeless population.
I guess you think that having your house burglarized and your wife and daughters accosted while on the way home from an elementary school function or the library is a great way (in your eyes) to "check your affluent Portland homeowner's privilege".
It seems like the attitude around Portland is that we shouldn't do anything about homelessness.
Until we we've solved homelessness everywhere we shouldn't do anything about it anywhere.
Meanwhile, meet your new neighbor Chuck.
He's great guy when he's not drunk, high, or tweaking his brains out.
He's just a little down on his luck, and his lifestyle's a little stressful.
Maybe you and your wife could go over to his place for beer and brats next Saturday afternoon.
Bring a six pack of Hefeweizen and some folding camp chairs to relax in.
I'm sure he would appreciate the thought and cheerful camaraderie.
BTW, it's not even summer yet.
Get ready!
You know I am a bleeding heart liberal but after growing up in SF with a serious homeless problem as long as I can remember, the 70's, and being harassed on the street as a teenager in the 80'. Watching it get worse in the 90's then leaving to NYC where I didn't "see" the homeless... the Portland homelessness so apparent in every city park and walking around downtown, it just became too much so we moved to Beaverton. Did we take the easy way out? Sure, but middle class parents just can only deal with so much. I guess if you live in the SW hills it isn't so bad but for most of Portland the problem is at everyone's back or front door. And yes, I had tweakers on my front porch trying to get in my house when I had a baby and my husband was traveling.
As far as Kansas processing plants going without workers, it seems there's very little housing there in rural areas. That seems be an issue in much of rural America.
That brings up an interesting question.
I drive all over the Portland area at least twice a week.
Portland is infested with homeless camps in every nook and cranny.
Milwaukie isn't. Tualitan isn't. Estacada isn't. I don't see a lot in Gresham. I don't see tent cities and little mini-favelas in Vancouver or Camas.
I have never seen a homeless encampment in Lake Oswego.
No tent cities in Scapoose or St Helens, or even Longview for that matter.
How about Oregon City or West Linn?
Wilsonville or Woodburn? NADA.
I might see a homeless person here and there, I am not saying that there aren't any there, but it's nothing on the scale that's here in Portland.
If Portland isn't making it very attractive for homeless people to move here, what is?
Why is the concentration of homeless people in Oregon concentrated in Portland and Eugene?
Can you think of any similarities between those two cities and any differences between the two cities and the towns I mentioned above?
All these other towns and cities I mentioned have social services, concerned citizens that would help out, churches, and many other organizations probably would love to help out deserving Homeless people that are down on their luck and just want a helping hand.
Maybe if we can figure out whats going on there, we could figure things out here in Portland.
Either that or start an undercover homeless tourists guide to attract the homeless to Eugene instead of Portland.
I hear the weather's a bit drier and warmer down there, and it's a lot closer to San Francisco!
It's like you're on the lookout in case someone in a city 1000 miles away suggests that unskilled homeless could find employment in your locale. I'm sorry I mentioned Alaska. It's not about you.
Just trying to explain to you why relocating Portland's homeless to Alaska isn't a viable idea -- and since you used my industry as an example (even though I don't hire unskilled labor), it was about me. I'm not "on the lookout" for anything; just sharing an experience I had with hiring your homeless. Won't happen again. Portland's got nothing on Alaska as far as being expensive, btw. Excuse the testiness; Alaska has long been touted as a solution for Oregon and Washington's unwanted people, and we're tired of it. ETA and because I get hit up for work all the time, I do my best to clear up misconceptions of the area and the industry when I encounter them.
Everything I've read on the subject links the labor shortage to housing shortages. A lot of places with low housing costs don't necessarily have much available housing. It looks like there's a rural housing crisis in many rural parts of the country, including the Midwest where many of these processing plants that are experiencing labor shortages are located. Sure, maybe this could be a partial solution, but something tells me it would barely make a dent.
Last edited by Metlakatla; 04-11-2017 at 07:03 PM..
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