The Homeless crisis in Bend Oregon is a result of radicalized policies and people run amok

The city of Bend has tried everything to hide and benefit from their homeless problem.

In summer 2023, I did a four-month detailed assessment of the Deschutes County homeless population. I moved there and spent every day meticulously meeting, interviewing, and trying to understand the homeless crisis. I met most of the Homeless, many homeless providers, I met with multiple elected officials, including a senator, congress members, the city council, and county commissioners. Last month, a New York Times reporter published an article on a major sweep that’s occurring in the area I was sent to investigate. I recognized some of the homeless in the article, and there is much more to the story.

I was inspired to go to that area and learn the truth after seeing shocking stats coming out of the area. For years, their PIT counts insisted that only 5-7% of their homeless are addicts. Anybody who follows my work and listens to my videos knows how ridiculous that number is. Those numbers are either that low because the local social service system doesn’t want the public to know the truth, or that there is such a strong lack of trust in the providers that the homeless lie to them. Either way, those inaccurate stats are a huge red flag that something was either very corrupt or very dysfunctional going on.

After four intensive months of work there, I learned the numbers were closer to 70-80% of the homeless were actively using, with the most popular drug of choice being fentanyl. That number aligns exactly with the overall prevalence of addiction in all other Homeless communities throughout the United States.

After spending months there and meeting a majority living in the deep woods, I learned many of them were there by choice. They wanted to live off the grid and considered it a lifestyle. I interviewed several dozen homeless people who told me they were told to go to the Deschutes forest by Bend officials. The mayor of Bend and her city Council would have you believe that nobody was living in their woods by choice and that their homeless problem is much smaller than people say. The truth is, Bend has been trying to hide its homeless problem for years, which is easily the worst-kept secret ever to ANYONE living there.

Patrick Watson was one of the homeless featured in the article and one of the many homeless people I had extensively worked with and interviewed. In the article, he states, “The system got me here,” yet in my interview with him, he said he moved into those woods on purpose. He told me he chose his situation and likes living outdoors. He considers his situation “freedom.” Of the hundreds of homeless people I met, over half shared that they prefer the outdoors.

I have over a hundred interviews directly from the homeless living in that area, I will post soon, showing the reality which goes against what leadership has been telling the public for years. Examples are that every homeless person wants off the streets, almost nobody is using drugs, nobody has moved there from other communities just to be homeless, or their social service system is functioning at peak efficiency.

Another unsettling fact is that there is a high number of very young children living way off the grid in the middle of their woods. They have no plumbing, running water, or electricity. Many of the parents I met said the area non-profits simply do not know what they are doing. They help in small ways like dropping off supplies once a week, but as for long-term solutions, they are almost non-existent. These particular children lived in a very dangerous area filled with drug dealers and unpredictable homeless individuals with serious issues. A week after I took this photo, a homeless man was mauled to death about fifty feet from this location by a homeless woman's dog.

The NGOs in the area, for the most part, are very controlling. They act as if they are saviors and only they can end the homeless crisis. Loyalty is big with them in according to several homeless people I interviewed told me they were discouraged from working with anybody else.

While doing outreach in the deep woods, I found a family in the area and helped them. They had been stranded in the woods for a long time and couldn’t get any help. Fortunately, the providers there had yet to get their tentacles around them. I did a fundraiser, and it was a big enough deal that it made the local news.

Rather than being happy, many of these nonprofits were livid that other people were trying to help the Homeless they considered their own.

According to dozens of Homeless, I spoke to soon after, a nonprofit reminded all the homeless not to work with anybody. Many Homeless complied, making my job and the job of many others much harder. They told me they were scared of betraying them. The strange, obsessive ownership these NGO‘s had of the homeless was disturbing. It also made it hard for everybody to help. The Homeless service system in Bend is very broken and very radicalized. I interviewed several homeless people who shared that they were kicked out of area shelters for reporting drug use.

I went to the shelters and spent several days in them. Not as a resident, as I would not want to take a bed from anyone. I instead spent a significant amount of time in their day areas, their smoking areas, and their perimeter. I can verify that there is rampant drug use, illegal activity, and virtually no help. I went to one shelter and stayed in their day room for eight hours one day, and was not approached once by staff. Most spent the entire day staring at their phones.

In this room were people who clearly needed help, but instead just sat there staring blankly at the walls. As I learned how to navigate the social service system in the area, I managed to help dozens get connected to services.

After months of assessing the area and interviewing hundreds of homeless people, I learned that a high percentage were interested in sanctioned camping. They would agree to stop unlawful camping and set up shop in designated areas with support. This would be a win-win considering what some homeless people have done to the stunning woods in Deschutes County.

That is easier said than done. Due to strict land use rules, politics, and NGO pushback, this community only managed to get 30 slots. While many homeless people would agree not to camp in other places. This plan of county-wide sanctioned camping would only work if the local government would then agree to enforce all other camping in all of their areas. Something easier said than done. The local government is very divided there. They have two common-sense County Commissioners who listen, but have a radicalized Mayor and city council that won’t listen. My contacts and I pushed hard for sanctioned camping, which was exactly what the Homeless said they would accept. The response by local government, though, was to add 500 shelter beds and 30 safe rest parking spots. Many Homeless people accepted those beds, but many others moved into other forested areas and the three nearby towns, according to my sources who live there.

Bend Oregon, had a real opportunity to show the rest of the country how to get it done, but instead did nothing but make things ten times more complicated. They spent millions of dollars on beds that many homeless people will not accept. They have also allowed devastating destruction in their woods.

There are millions upon millions of pounds of trash in some of the most beautiful woods I have ever seen. The fact that there was zero outrage from Bend officials is disappointing but not surprising.

After this major sweep, many of the homeless just went into other communities. If they had a better plan and had created a sanctioned camping site, it would be far better. It’s disappointing, but as always, I hold out hope that new people can get into office who know how to listen and how to help.