Please help- want to move to coastal Oregon

[Oregon Bill]

Jgray, this might really be a case of rent a place in Salem, Corvallis-Albany or Eugene and get to know the coast first hand over a period of 8-12 months. More jobs, more housing options and you'll make a better choice in the end. Salem is about an hour from Lincoln City. Dallas is a small, out of the way town that is surprisingly charming and often overlooked. Good luck. The Oregon Coast is many things -- most of them wonderful.

P.S. I have heard that plumbers, electricians and other skilled trades are in high demand on the coast. And if you and your fella like to fish, crab, go clamming or hunt, register at ifish.net for some great threads and advice on life in general, not just the outdoors.

[PNW-type-gal]

Stick to the original topic, please. Posts attacking other posters, name-calling, etc will get posting restrictions and then bans.

[Larry Caldwell]

I have heard from coastal residents that there is a large population of homeless on the coast, camping in areas that are unimproved. That causes sanitation issues, among other things. The comments have been anecdotal rather than official. Since the recent court rulings, nobody can bother people camping on public land, so it will be an expanding problem both on the coast and inland.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

I have heard from coastal residents that there is a large population of homeless on the coast, camping in areas that are unimproved. That causes sanitation issues, among other things. The comments have been anecdotal rather than official. Since the recent court rulings, nobody can bother people camping on public land, so it will be an expanding problem both on the coast and inland.

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[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

I have heard from coastal residents that there is a large population of homeless on the coast, camping in areas that are unimproved. That causes sanitation issues, among other things. The comments have been anecdotal rather than official. Since the recent court rulings, nobody can bother people camping on public land, so it will be an expanding problem both on the coast and inland.

I think more specifically, cities can't arrest people for camping on public land IF NO ALTERNATIVE SHELTER SPACE IS AVAILABLE.

So if towns and cities want to actually regulate homeless that are camping on public land, all they really need to do is insure that there are adequate public shelters available which I suppose could include public land set aside specifically for long-term homeless camping. To date all the cities in OR like Portland and Eugene have such dysfunctional politics that they can't seem to get close to providing enough public shelter beds or public camping spaces. Wapato Jail anyone?

So if Newport or any other town wants to roust the homeless off public streets and public parks they can legally do it as long as they provide alternative spaces for those folks to go. That's the conundrum because building homeless shelters unleashes a hurricane of NIMBY angst and the political process melts down. Other cities with less dysfunctional politics have managed to get ahead of this problem. San Antonio, for example. But cities in TX have a lot less "process" to deal with when they want to get things done compared to the political culture in the Northwest.