Fantastic work Kevin and Tara!!!! I think you have created a masterpiece with this presentation. I have forwarded it to JVP, Keith Wilson, the JOHS,and Oregon Live. I hope against all odds that this will force the hard decisions to be made that are so obviously important in helping these unfortunate individuals. If nothing changes then nothing changes, and the Portland we all loved will never return.
I hope you sending this article to JVP & the mayor will get them to open their eyes. However, you do realize that the Mayor has started his own homeless nonprofit? There is BIG money in the Homeless Industrial Complex.
Keith Wilson is different than all of the other elected officials. He has been using his own money to partner with churches and community groups for several years to provide high quality overnight shelters for the homeless in SE Portland. His motivation is nothing more than a sincere desire for helping people who are suffering lives of desperation and deprivation on the streets and in the bushes of Portland.
He is the rarest of people who run for office, a truly wonderful person and a straight shooter!
There will be an “in-person media availability” tomorrow (Monday) at 12:30 p.m. at the Health Department Gladys McCoy Building, 619 NW 6th Ave. Multnomah County leaders and public safety/behavioral health partners will discuss the first quarterly deflection update from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, 2024.
Jessica Vega Pederson is supposed to be there, along with Heather Mirasol (Director of Multnomah County’s Behavioral Health Division); Portland Police Bureau Commander Brian Hughes; Tony Vezina from 4-D Recovery and Bernard Gyebi-Foster, Tuerk House Chief Executive Officer.
One thing antifa taught Portland in 2020 is that anybody can call themselves “media.” Slap on a vest that says “media,” and it’s amazing what you can get away with in this town — remember the “media” who took part in the 100 days of rioting?
So … why can’t homeless drug addicts don media vests and show up at this availability armed with questions about this mystery cure called “deflection.” They have a right to have their questions heard, don’t they?
What accounts for the absence of official outreach workers from the bureaucracies and nonprofits who have an unquenchable thirst for tax dollars? By outreach, I mean the sort of help that Kevin and Tara Faul did that is documented in this Substack essay.
Since this is not a topic the local mainstream media will cover (well, there was a recent piece in the newspaper with two names about the lack of funding for outreach), all those of us who want this crisis to end can do is speculate.
Certainly the desire to prolong the crisis to bring down capitalism (LOLOLOL) is one such reason.
Is it that the County and its nonprofits just haven't made outreach a priority?
Is there a shortage of people who are willing to do that sort of work?
Is the pay for outreach work too low?
Do potential outreach workers consider the work too dangerous?
In any case, where the County seems to be in the greatest denial, at least in its communications with the public, is in not acknowledging that a substantial percentage of the homeless want to live outdoors and do not want to live indoors.
JVP is also in denial about how badly broken some homeless people are and how resource intensive it is and will continue to be to help them.
Maybe the most profound denial is the belief that it will ever be possible to get the homeless off our streets and return to the status quo of, say, the 1980s or 1990s when camping was extremely rare.
The homeless industrial complex (this includes County workers and the nonprofits) generally want to help (enable) people live ON the streets until they can be popped into free apartments where they will “thrive”. They think temporary shelters are “concentration camps” so why would they show up to get people into them?
That is clear to you and me and to the readers of Portland Dissent and Kevin Dahlgren's fine work - why can't the general public see it, and why aren't they up in arms about it?
It's infuriating that the homeless industrial complex is not willing to be candid about its philosophy and policies around camping.
Worse yet, there's no way for the public to hold them accountable democratically. And there is not a single elected official in the city or the County who is willing to treat the homeless, the addicted and the untreated mentally ill as the severe quality of life problem they are for those of us who pay taxes and have managed not to make a train wreck of our lives.
What is our pretend mayor going to do about the campers who are so impaired (to put it politely) that they have convinced themselves they cannot live indoors? Or the ones who are so mentally ill that the have lost their reason?
Kevin, were you honestly surprised no one from JOHS or the plethora of tax sucking homeless enabling nonprofits weren’t out there with you? I mean the “work” from home JOHS employees couldn’t/wouldn’t even staff the emergency shelters. They were asking for volunteers! Billions spent and the cruelty continues. It’s time of offers shelter and ENFORCE no camping laws. It’s not compassionate to do what we do. Anyway good article…keep it up.
This is tragic...totally! Pls try to remove your mail in ballot scam! Your state is totally controlled! Sanctuary city since 1988, the same year mail in ballots were initiated!
Excellent article...Where was Brim Edwards and the other politicians? Seems they should show up to help clean up the mess they have created.
I lived in Portland for over twenty years...enough f the blue. Blue is sad!
I don’t think it’s the mail in voting. I think it’s how the voters here vote. Until that changes we are stuck in the status quo. Frankly it will probably get worse as more moderate Democrats like myself leave Multnomah County.
I lived there for over twenty years and watched the cheating in Multnomah county over and over! Chris Dudley was running for gov and they did it then. I think to the one large county overpowers the votes from the rest of the state...Portland exemplifies that!
Thank you for your brave work and for shedding light on the reality of the situation. I'm appalled that every newspaper in town doesn't share your work. Do you ever get calls from local journalists?
EXCELLENT. I know you know Sharon Meieran so perhaps she could put you in touch with the people that could assist you and Tara? We have been trying to get the names of the outreach workers just for the Lents area to no avail. Why is all this information so top secret? 🤫
It’s secret because the nonprofits don’t want to end cruel street camping…they want to enable it. People in tents and RV’s are their money tickets. Why would they want help getting them off the streets?
Interesting stuff. One note is that the West Coast of the US has declared (through the appellate federal courts and local courts) that camping outside is basically a fundamental right and a constitutional right. So it's much harder to clear a camp in let's say LA or Portland than it is to clear on in Chicago or Minneapolis. With this as a fundamental right and given the Homeless Industrial Complex expect more of this.
Ok, I didn't know that. Thank you. So it looks like the decision on that has been returned to the states and cities. So if you are in Portland the powers that be could decide for example that the "homeless" have a right to camp outside. Or that they don't. But it's now a local decision, based on voters and not judges and the Constitution.
Taxpayers should not be surprised that after spending billions of their money, there were no trained professional on the streets on one of the coldest nights in Portland. Politicians from the city to the governor, buy your votes by selling policies by their intent, like help the homeless which no one can argue with. Unfortunately, most of these programs do not deliver results and the forthcoming answers will likely be that they need more taxpayer money. Accusing capitalism for the problem is a red herring and doesn't stand up to rigorous analysis -- I have travelled in socialist countries that have homeless people living on the streets with no social services at all. And the people who are housed, are challenged by poor wages, authoritarian rulers and shortages of medicines and food selection...
Jessica, and all her spineless YES people don’t give a damn. Let them freeze to death. That is their attitude. Their indifference is nauseating. Our city is going broke with this new form of government. But oh, the new commissioners, how many, from 5 to 12 now? THEY will sure as hell get paid! The city will go broke paying THEM!!
And you know what? We can shame them, and expose them all we want and it won’t change a damn thing. They will STILL get all their money and privilege and they will STILL not give a damn!
And if Kevin and Tara win any humanitarian awards, it won’t come from Pee Town. It will come from out of state. Because all the power players in this sickening, incestuous fish bowl still hold ALL the cards.
We can yell and scream, stamp our feet and nothing changes. Because they have all the power. And we have none.
Fantastic work Kevin and Tara!!!! I think you have created a masterpiece with this presentation. I have forwarded it to JVP, Keith Wilson, the JOHS,and Oregon Live. I hope against all odds that this will force the hard decisions to be made that are so obviously important in helping these unfortunate individuals. If nothing changes then nothing changes, and the Portland we all loved will never return.
Blessings on you and your work!!
Tim Larson
I hope you sending this article to JVP & the mayor will get them to open their eyes. However, you do realize that the Mayor has started his own homeless nonprofit? There is BIG money in the Homeless Industrial Complex.
Keith Wilson is different than all of the other elected officials. He has been using his own money to partner with churches and community groups for several years to provide high quality overnight shelters for the homeless in SE Portland. His motivation is nothing more than a sincere desire for helping people who are suffering lives of desperation and deprivation on the streets and in the bushes of Portland.
He is the rarest of people who run for office, a truly wonderful person and a straight shooter!
There will be an “in-person media availability” tomorrow (Monday) at 12:30 p.m. at the Health Department Gladys McCoy Building, 619 NW 6th Ave. Multnomah County leaders and public safety/behavioral health partners will discuss the first quarterly deflection update from Sept. 1 to Dec. 31, 2024.
Jessica Vega Pederson is supposed to be there, along with Heather Mirasol (Director of Multnomah County’s Behavioral Health Division); Portland Police Bureau Commander Brian Hughes; Tony Vezina from 4-D Recovery and Bernard Gyebi-Foster, Tuerk House Chief Executive Officer.
One thing antifa taught Portland in 2020 is that anybody can call themselves “media.” Slap on a vest that says “media,” and it’s amazing what you can get away with in this town — remember the “media” who took part in the 100 days of rioting?
So … why can’t homeless drug addicts don media vests and show up at this availability armed with questions about this mystery cure called “deflection.” They have a right to have their questions heard, don’t they?
Thanks for the heads up on the meeting 🙏🏻
What accounts for the absence of official outreach workers from the bureaucracies and nonprofits who have an unquenchable thirst for tax dollars? By outreach, I mean the sort of help that Kevin and Tara Faul did that is documented in this Substack essay.
Since this is not a topic the local mainstream media will cover (well, there was a recent piece in the newspaper with two names about the lack of funding for outreach), all those of us who want this crisis to end can do is speculate.
Certainly the desire to prolong the crisis to bring down capitalism (LOLOLOL) is one such reason.
Is it that the County and its nonprofits just haven't made outreach a priority?
Is there a shortage of people who are willing to do that sort of work?
Is the pay for outreach work too low?
Do potential outreach workers consider the work too dangerous?
In any case, where the County seems to be in the greatest denial, at least in its communications with the public, is in not acknowledging that a substantial percentage of the homeless want to live outdoors and do not want to live indoors.
JVP is also in denial about how badly broken some homeless people are and how resource intensive it is and will continue to be to help them.
Maybe the most profound denial is the belief that it will ever be possible to get the homeless off our streets and return to the status quo of, say, the 1980s or 1990s when camping was extremely rare.
The homeless industrial complex (this includes County workers and the nonprofits) generally want to help (enable) people live ON the streets until they can be popped into free apartments where they will “thrive”. They think temporary shelters are “concentration camps” so why would they show up to get people into them?
That is clear to you and me and to the readers of Portland Dissent and Kevin Dahlgren's fine work - why can't the general public see it, and why aren't they up in arms about it?
It's infuriating that the homeless industrial complex is not willing to be candid about its philosophy and policies around camping.
Worse yet, there's no way for the public to hold them accountable democratically. And there is not a single elected official in the city or the County who is willing to treat the homeless, the addicted and the untreated mentally ill as the severe quality of life problem they are for those of us who pay taxes and have managed not to make a train wreck of our lives.
What is our pretend mayor going to do about the campers who are so impaired (to put it politely) that they have convinced themselves they cannot live indoors? Or the ones who are so mentally ill that the have lost their reason?
Kevin, were you honestly surprised no one from JOHS or the plethora of tax sucking homeless enabling nonprofits weren’t out there with you? I mean the “work” from home JOHS employees couldn’t/wouldn’t even staff the emergency shelters. They were asking for volunteers! Billions spent and the cruelty continues. It’s time of offers shelter and ENFORCE no camping laws. It’s not compassionate to do what we do. Anyway good article…keep it up.
This is tragic...totally! Pls try to remove your mail in ballot scam! Your state is totally controlled! Sanctuary city since 1988, the same year mail in ballots were initiated!
Excellent article...Where was Brim Edwards and the other politicians? Seems they should show up to help clean up the mess they have created.
I lived in Portland for over twenty years...enough f the blue. Blue is sad!
I don’t think it’s the mail in voting. I think it’s how the voters here vote. Until that changes we are stuck in the status quo. Frankly it will probably get worse as more moderate Democrats like myself leave Multnomah County.
I lived there for over twenty years and watched the cheating in Multnomah county over and over! Chris Dudley was running for gov and they did it then. I think to the one large county overpowers the votes from the rest of the state...Portland exemplifies that!
Thank you for your brave work and for shedding light on the reality of the situation. I'm appalled that every newspaper in town doesn't share your work. Do you ever get calls from local journalists?
EXCELLENT. I know you know Sharon Meieran so perhaps she could put you in touch with the people that could assist you and Tara? We have been trying to get the names of the outreach workers just for the Lents area to no avail. Why is all this information so top secret? 🤫
It’s secret because the nonprofits don’t want to end cruel street camping…they want to enable it. People in tents and RV’s are their money tickets. Why would they want help getting them off the streets?
EXACTLY 🤑
Isn't that the definition of evil? Profiting off of the most vulnerable while destroying them?
Thank you for a very informative and moving account.
Saint's amongst us. Thank you Tara and Kevin. Just wondering what percentage of Portland homeless are actually from the Portland area?
Interesting stuff. One note is that the West Coast of the US has declared (through the appellate federal courts and local courts) that camping outside is basically a fundamental right and a constitutional right. So it's much harder to clear a camp in let's say LA or Portland than it is to clear on in Chicago or Minneapolis. With this as a fundamental right and given the Homeless Industrial Complex expect more of this.
John,
The SCOTUS has overturned those prior decisions. Unfortunately here in Multnomah County, Vega Pedesron and her nonprofits are still busy passing out free tents and enabling the cruelty of street camping. https://www.city-journal.org/article/scotus-ends-the-ninth-circuits-homeless-policy-experiment
Ok, I didn't know that. Thank you. So it looks like the decision on that has been returned to the states and cities. So if you are in Portland the powers that be could decide for example that the "homeless" have a right to camp outside. Or that they don't. But it's now a local decision, based on voters and not judges and the Constitution.
Impressive K.
call me.
call me.
Taxpayers should not be surprised that after spending billions of their money, there were no trained professional on the streets on one of the coldest nights in Portland. Politicians from the city to the governor, buy your votes by selling policies by their intent, like help the homeless which no one can argue with. Unfortunately, most of these programs do not deliver results and the forthcoming answers will likely be that they need more taxpayer money. Accusing capitalism for the problem is a red herring and doesn't stand up to rigorous analysis -- I have travelled in socialist countries that have homeless people living on the streets with no social services at all. And the people who are housed, are challenged by poor wages, authoritarian rulers and shortages of medicines and food selection...
They don’t give a flying jelly bean fart.
Jessica, and all her spineless YES people don’t give a damn. Let them freeze to death. That is their attitude. Their indifference is nauseating. Our city is going broke with this new form of government. But oh, the new commissioners, how many, from 5 to 12 now? THEY will sure as hell get paid! The city will go broke paying THEM!!
And you know what? We can shame them, and expose them all we want and it won’t change a damn thing. They will STILL get all their money and privilege and they will STILL not give a damn!
And if Kevin and Tara win any humanitarian awards, it won’t come from Pee Town. It will come from out of state. Because all the power players in this sickening, incestuous fish bowl still hold ALL the cards.
We can yell and scream, stamp our feet and nothing changes. Because they have all the power. And we have none.