Early Signs Point to a Spike in Portland Homelessness Over the Past Two Years (middle-class, daycare)

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by EasyBeezy

I'm pretty sure that there is all that trash because they have nowhere to put their stuff. They have nowhere to put their stuff because they're homeless. I don't know what showing pictures of homeless peoples trash proves. Those of us with homes undoubtedly generate more trash than they do. Difference is, we have trash service, because we're not homeless. Trash trucks don't stop by homeless camps, so the trash piles up. No trash service = trash piling up.

I don't like it either, but I have empathy for them. I'm sure they don't like living among their own garbage either, but until they're not homeless or trash services start coming around to pick up their trash, that's how it will be. Maybe the city should distribute trash bags to them and sharps containers and send around garbage trucks periodically. Give them a choice, then we can condemn them if they don't avail themselves of the service. There is actually a tent camper near downtown that I've seen for the last few months that has a trash can and recycling bin. His camp is actually really tidy. I wonder if he's got some sort of trash service deal going on?

OK. If they are "the good saintly homeless people" you seem to think are the majority, why aren't they doing a little bit more to keep things clean themselves, instead of relying on the city of Portland to provide them with trash bags, sharps containers, garbage trucks, porta pottys.

Don't you think if they were concerned about it, they would be a little more responsible, self policing, and pick up after themselves instead of relying on everybody else to clean up after them?

How much does a box of trash bags cost? A few bucks?
I'm sure a few people could chip in 25 cents a piece and buy some.
Maybe one of those homeless stolen bicycle chop shops could put together a nice big bike and trailer setup for them to haul their trash somewhere?

You could put a hundred dumpsters out and they still wouldn't care.
Your pictures mean nothing.
They are probably the result of sanitation workers strike or something that only happens once in a while.

The trash pictures I provided show homeless trash that is out there non-stop, EVERY DAY, ALL OVER PORTLAND.
Go drive around and see it for yourself.
It's easy to find!

What about the camps and trash in places like the Springwater Corridor, Beggar's Tick, Oaks Bottom, the east side of the Willamette by Ross Island, etc?
The places where you and I provided our hard earned tax dollars to restore habitat and clean up just so a bunch of homeless scum could trash it over and over?

Here's a nice picture of beautiful Johnson Creek after those poor misguided, put upon homeless derelicts got through with it:




BTW, do you think the city just has unlimited funds to do anything they want?
Do you know where the city's money comes from?

We are all paying a big price for that mysterious entity with bottomless coffers called "The City".

[EasyBeezy]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

OK. If they are "the good saintly homeless people" you seem to think are the majority, why aren't they doing a little bit more to keep things clean themselves, instead of relying on the city of Portland to provide them with trash bags, sharps containers, garbage trucks, porta pottys.

Don't you think if they were concerned about it, they would be a little more responsible, self policing, and pick up after themselves instead of relying on everybody else to clean up after them?

How much does a box of trash bags cost? A few bucks?
I'm sure a few people could chip in 25 cents a piece and buy some.

You could put a hundred dumpsters out and they still wouldn't care.
Your pictures mean nothing.
They are probably the result of sanitation workers strike or something that only happens once in a while.
The trash pictures I provided show homeless trash that is out there non-stop, EVERY DAY, ALL OVER PORTLAND.

BTW, do you think the city just has unlimited funds to do anything they want?
Do you know where the city's money comes from?

We are all paying a big price for that mysterious entity with bottomless coffers called "The City".

I'm not sure why you put "the good saintly homeless people" in quotes, as I never wrote that, nor do I think that. I do think that we should have empathy for all people, even those among us who are flawed. Is the guy with all the same flaws as a homeless fellow, but inherited a house to live in, any better than the homeless guy, or just a little luckier?

I believe that if you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem. I'm on this thread to brainstorm solutions with my fellow citizens, not vent. If we could find a way to mitigate the homeless garbage problem in a cost effective way, it would go a long way toward alleviating the detrimental effect that homelessness has on the community.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Portland has been "brainstorming" for twenty years.

Look where it's gotten us.

I USED to have a LOT of Tolerance and Empathy toward homeless people.

Why is it wrong for me to be upset?
Let's just say that my eyes have been opened to reality.

[EasyBeezy]

Oh, there's nothing wrong with being upset. People being upset is usually the seed of what eventually becomes a problem solving solution. I personally don't think that the city can or should do too much to solve this issue. It's a national problem. Portland's homeless problem is probably the least severe among the West Coast cities (San Diego, LA, Bay Area, Portland, & Seattle). The problem is particularly acute in California, as anyone who visits or lives there will attest to. If one decides to provide housing to all homeless, other homeless from different cities are sure to come flocking to get their own subsidized pad.

The solution, to the extent that a solution is possible, must be national. It's the only way we can avoid just shifting the issue from one place to another. Also, the root causes are the result of national trends, not local ones. What localities can do is institute programs to alleviate the impact. Yes, it will cost taxpayer money. But any solution will cost money, even forcibly removing them (which is a pipe dream). That's why we pay taxes. We pool our money together to solve problems and institute programs that we cannot do as individuals.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Maybe we should do absolutely nothing and let the problem sort itself out?

If it's really, really tough to be homeless in Portland.......................

[DutchessCottonPuff]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

What about the 30 year old male who has been out of prison a time or two, won't give up the booze and meth, lives in a tent on the fringes, trashes wherever he lives and supports himself by begging through intimidation, breaking into cars, stealing bikes and burglarizing houses?

All homeless aren't good folks that are just down on their luck!

There is a hell of alot of these people too..............just read nextdoor.dot.com sometime...........

I've been robbed at gunpoint by the 30 year old male up here in Seattle so you don't have to educate me,you are just refusing to address the ones who do need the help and would take it.

Whoever was telling me the 70 year old woman should move to a lower COL area -that would (for her) mean leaving the entire state of Oregon these days and she wouldn't have had enough resources to move across the street from where we found her.

Being homeless for long stretches can depress many people into using as well .It is a very hard lifestyle-not the Hilton.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

I've been robbed at gunpoint by the 30 year old male up here in Seattle so you don't have to educate me,you are just refusing to address the ones who do need the help and would take it.

Read my posts over again.
I have never lumped all homeless people together as one.

I have repeatedly said to help the ones to need help and quit wasting resources on the freeloading homeless scum that are ruining our city for everyone else.

Get rid of those kinds of homeless and there will be a lot more money to help the ones you are concerned about.

It seems like every time someone complains about the homeless, examples like your 70 year old woman are trotted out.

It makes it seem like ALL homeless are just poor good souls who happen to be down on their luck and need our help and pity to get a leg up.

In real life however, that is not the case.

[FSF]

Originally Posted by pdxMIKEpdx

Read my posts over again.
I have never lumped all homeless people together as one.

I have repeatedly said to help the ones to need help and quit wasting resources on the freeloading homeless scum that are ruining our city for everyone else.

Get rid of those kinds of homeless and there will be a lot more money to help the ones you are concerned about.

It seems like every time someone complains about the homeless, examples like your 70 year old woman are trotted out.

It makes it seem like ALL homeless are just poor good souls who happen to be down on their luck and need our help and pity to get a leg up.

In real life however, that is not the case.

Everything you state sounds great in theory. But just how would you even assess the ones who need help from those that don't? And then of course there is the extra cost and bureaucracy of trying to make such assessments, which would undoubtedly lead to you complaining about "wasting resources" for those reasons. Homelessness isn't just pervasive in Portland, they are pretty much rampant across all major metros in this country. I know because I've seen them in dozens of cities out in mass.

You're undoubtedly correct that not all homeless are good souls but I don't think I've ever read such comments from anyone anywhere so let's stop with all the self contrived hyperbole. Not ALL homeowners are honest, tax paying, patriotic, law abiding citizens. In fact, most aren't. It's just that most people don't get caught for their transgressions in life.

Unfortunately, I nor you nor anyone seems to have any good answers on how to deal with the problem in Portland or anywhere else in this nation. But they aren't just all going to retreat into the mountains or the dessert to make themselves scarce so that the rest of us aren't faced with the reality of their existence. You repeatedly talk about "getting rid" of them. What is that even suppose to mean? Get rid of them to where? All cities have this problem. THAT is the problem.

[Leisesturm]

The percent of the homeless that are scoundrels are not worth worrying about! It is surely less than 2%. The overwhelming majority of homeless are like the 70 y.o. lady except that they aren't 70. They are 40 or 45. Overwhelmingly they are male because women near the edge can have options for earning money that males do not. Do I need to be more graphic than that? Also, a LOT more people would be homeless and on the street but they are being maintained by spouses and/or extended family.

People. It isn't rocket science. M-O-N-E-Y needs to be spent. People that (wo)man cash registers in supermarkets, box-stores and all manner of retail concerns collectively contribute to 33% of GDP!!!! Automation will finish off those jobs within a decade. A Basic Income had better be in beta test by the time automation starts whacking away at the present force of over the road truck-drivers 3.5 Million. My brother is an over the road trucker. He is old like me, and no longer does the tractor trailer thing. He now drives new tractors without trailers from the dealership to the client destinations which are often far distant.

We were on the phone last week and suddenly he let out an expletive. That's nothing new from him so I was non-plussed, but he went on to explain that the truck had just applied the brakes because someone had cut him off. His judgement had said no action on his part was necessary but the truck thought otherwise. Wow. Everytime I see in the Automotive forum the "oh, don't worry, it will be 50 years before there is any danger of self-driving vehicles encroaching on our 3rd Amendment rights to own and use motor vehicles". Yeah, right. I don't know if my brother is reading the handwriting on the wall. I thought it best not to make the obvious connections.

Point of sale cashiers, truck drivers, joiners, law enforcement... millions of American jobs that Trump has no intention of saving. M-O-N-E-Y needs to be taken from the entities that are profiting from the freedom of needing a labor force to generate their profit! You can look for a way that avoids direct confrontation with the ruling class until the cows come home. It is a fool's errand. There is no way around it. Or you could accept the fact that going forward there will only be more homeless, not less, and avoid making loud, ignorant sounding rants about it.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Unfortunately, I nor you nor anyone seems to have any good answers on how to deal with the problem in Portland.

That's the problem. After twenty years of seeking answers, Portland really hasn't come up with anything.

So we just keep on talking about it, discussing every aspect of it, making everyone feel guilty about it, throwing money at it, you name it.

Someone like me gets upset, and what happens?
I get a self serving lecture from someone like you.
Feel better?
Tell you what, why don't you go and clean up a homeless camp sometime.
Then come back with your holier than thou attitude.

I have. Several times.
I have also dealt with homeless people on my families properties, been accosted by them downtown, had my cars broken into, found needles floating in the Willamette, etc.

And I don't care about homeless in the rest of the country.
I care what homeless scumbags are doing to Portland, Oregon.

BTW, have you ever heard about how Salt Lake City deals with homeless?
Maybe we should copy their program.

You're undoubtedly correct that not all homeless are good souls but I don't think I've ever read such comments from anyone anywhere so let's stop with all the self contrived hyperbole. Not ALL homeowners are honest, tax paying, patriotic, law abiding citizens. In fact, most aren't.

See, here we go again.
I said that not all homeless are bad people.
Over and over.

I don't care what homeowners are doing. They are not living in illegal tent cities with no sanitation, leaving drug needles everywhere, stealing bikes, trashing parks and green spaces, crapping and pissing and camping on city sidewalks, harassing people for money, burglarizing houses to support drug habits, or anything else like that.

They are probably working hard, going to jobs, paying taxes to the city and generally supporting the homeless whether they like it or not.

That's what the homeowners are doing.

How do you know what percentage of homeowners are honest, tax paying, patriotic, law abiding citizens anyway? Talk about hyperbole.

Like I have said, may be a good solution is to not encourage homeless people to believe Portland is an easy touch like they think it is now.
They will go elsewhere.
The ones that are left can be helped with the money saved by not having to deal the the scummy law breaking ones.

Tell you what. I won't say "get rid of them".
How about "relocate", or "geographically transition" or "help them find the other end of the rainbow", or something that sounds a little more light and fluffy and less offensive.

But after all that, you are correct in some of your statements.
Portland has a huge homeless problem.
After twenty years and millions of dollars spent, it's just gotten worse.
Everybody is pointing fingers at everyone else.
People are using the situation for profit and political gain (remember some of the last batch of mayoral candidates and homeless advocates who seem to only appear when it profits them?).

I bring it all up in a blunt matter and get scolded like a bad child.

Here's another happy picture for ya:



How would you like to see that on the other side of the back yard fence of your $300k house that you've worked hard all your life to buy and raise your family in?