This set of issues may be worse in Bend, but it's typical of the Multnomah County approach where "homelessness" is a driver of employment for Homelessness Inc.™ and a way of building sprawling bureaucracies that take their own growth and clout first.
Keep up the brave, good work. Kevin is the only voice of realism and truth in our local desk-bound media.
Yes, this! I've long observed that the political authorities and authorized agencies/NGOs, are doing just enough to LOOK like they're "helping", but are actually perpetuating the problem. They are NOT SUPPOSED TO SOLVE "homelessness", but to keep it going. The destruction of large cities by allowing the homeless population and all the lawlessness and drug trafficking that goes along with it is INTENTIONAL, with orders coming from higher authorities. It's part of the controlled demolition of Amerika the Beautiful.
That and there is an idealogical aspect of it aswell. A lot of these orgs are filled with people that think that homelessness a direct effect a lack of socialism and/or that homelessness can be used as a political tool to push for more far left policy. So if you solve the homelessness problem to them that takes away reasons people could have to agree with them.
This is likely why they where so against kevin doing that fund raiser and why these people are against charity. They would rather people suffer that could be helped becuase they are willing to use human suffering as a political tool.
After over a year of direct homeless outreach (mostly in the Tucson area), I found very similar data. The leaders are much more realistic about the drug problem--probably because there isn't much livable forest area to hide the problem from the public compared to Bend. My effort began when I reached out to neighbors for assistance with one homeless man with a terrible wound on his leg, and it turned into a nationwide research and aid organization.
Kevin, I applaud your work. I know very well the emotional impact of working closely with folks who are in this position, and the helplessness you feel when you know the solutions simply aren't there. I'm hoping to make more connections on the federal level to help leaders around the country open their eyes to the real issues. Good work, my friend. Damn good work.
The NGOs lose their purpose if they actually do anything productive. I believe that they are intentionally making it worse in order to retain their sense of power and significance.
If the problem is actually addressed, the NGOs would lose funding, lose their position, and lose their sense of power.
It's not about helping those in need, it's about appearing to do so and parading their apparent moral superiority before the public while profiting.
I agree with you; I've seen what you see and see it all as a "controlled demolition" of America. The mayors of all the major west coast cities allow this to go on! I visited Portland, Oregon 7 years ago and couldn't believe the change from when I worked in the city 20 years prior. I was told by former co-workers how the mayor said the homeless are be treated with dignity and even allowed to camp on the sidewalks! Drug use and dealing was going on in front of me while police cars drove right on by! There was no fear of being caught; they know what's up. I took out my phone to take some photos and some lady started yelling at me to stop taking pictures, then chased me as I ran like hell all the way to the bus station! The city I remembered as being so clean was now looking like a garbage dump! This was not done by accident -- the same thing happening with the same policies in every major city across the country.
You might as well ask someone to bring you an actual unicorn. The folks who pay "grant writers" to secure NGO grants for all manner of projects, get to pocket 50% or more of those grants for their "work". They hire some low-pay help to actually set foot among the needy, and then provide just enough financial support to maintain equilibrium. Wash, rinse, repeat.
If they save one life or get one person into treatment or housing it is a success. I’m not going to do your research for you, because the examples are numerous if you discuss individuals. Homelessness response is not a zero sum game just because you can find examples where it doesn’t help everyone.
There is no “positive side” to homelessness and unless we start to actually commit mentally ill people they will continue to end up in jail or on the streets.
Firstly we should start commiting the mentally ill.
Seacondly its not that homelessness is overall positive but that the cost benefit analysis of homelessness to these people is better then going through the process of being a functioning memeber of society becuase they are junkies.
Bend is objectively doing worse. I agree the generalizations minimize the efforts of those doing good work (like the author of this piece), but to deny that the overarching theme of ineffective, pseudo compassionate homeless outreach organizations are making things worse is furthering the stranglehold they have over the situation.
I do deny it. There is no “Big Homeless” money out there, the efforts - patchwork as they are, are sincere efforts and make incremental gains seasonally.
We need more money and laws that support institutionalization of the mentally ill to make a true dent here.
Speaking as a recovered alcoholic you need to provide some intervention to prevent self-harm or a hard bottom and then therapy and structure whether it be mandatory inpatient rehab, recovery meetings and a sponsor/sponsee relationship to achieve long term sobriety or mental health.
The approach I settled on was a network of online labor credit systems to value unpaid volunteer work redeemable at neighborhood coops, legal campgrounds and co-housing communities. The idea was that society is nearing the net energy cliff with a power grab through AI integration, typical "carrot and the stick" routines and the use of palatable narratives to reduce consumption leaving civil society prone to authoritarian governments (both left and right). We need a kind of legal alternative to provide food, shelter and skills-training as a fall back for losing everything to the technocratic neofeudal system. The portal would be a cross between Bright Neighbor Portland, Paul Glover's Ithaca Hours and Habitat for Humanity. I ran into some negative feedback from the Feds which required permanent recovery and tactical awareness/self-defense. Like the above posters shared there is a fair amount of institutional grift where sincere volunteers and innovators unfortunately get pushed out.
The homeless situation in all of the USA is a direct result of people intentionally ignoring the root causes of what has caused homelessness in the USA for the benefit of making it a multi-trillion dollar industry. Homelessness creates jobs, generates billions in funding for all cities and states that becomes available for fraud, and feeds other billion dollar industries such as the drug trade, human trafficking, and the child trafficking that provides pedophilia and satanic cults all over the world.
Homelessness in the USA wasn't always so big. 30-40 years ago it was almost non-existent compared to what we see now. If we ended homelessness, millions of government workers would be unemployed. That is why it will never be fixed ever.
30-40 years ago homelessness was practically non- existent to what it is now? Really? How old were you 30-40 years so? I was between 10-20 tears old, and I remember, in my town, the homeless problem being worse than it is now. And that was true for cities as well. So I don't know where you were living or where you got your info from.
I calculated once that if the city of San Francisco simply bought a house for every homeless person a decade ago they would have saved billions. I think most citizens are utterly unaware of much money is being spent to no effect.
The words used to be clear - vagrant, derelict
Homeless in your writing seems a heavy euphemism since they seem to all (in SF) have tents.
Before Reagan we used to have a functional mental health system- we need a massive effort and nobody seems to care. R’ keep throwing mental health as a the boogeyman, but offer zero support. There is always a “better” solution- we could end most poverty in the entire world if everyone could work together for a common cause, but go figure that everyone’s individual choices make that impossible.
Let's be fair and say that these people are homeless because they want to be, and nothing has a hold on them but whatever their current opiate might be. In some cases, real opiates. Acceptance of the fact that they want to be part of this life is step 1 to solving the problem.
I think you are severely underestimated the positive financial impact of NGOs employing thousands of potential girlfriends and wives in San Francisco. These make-work opportunities improve what would otherwise be a non-existent dating and romance arena and have significant knock-on effects to the restaurant and service industries.
I grew up homeless, in the desert in California, near Edward’s AFB. Like the children portrayed in this piece, I was born into that situation, to addicted parents.
My siblings and I FLED from social services every chance we got, and lied to keep them from hunting us down after they questioned us. It didn’t take long for us to notice any one of our friends who had been “rescued” by social services was (generally) never seen again. If we did, on rare occasion, run into them again, they were never better off.
Social services and NGOs traffick the children. As many children and very few pregnant women as you may see, many more are transported underground or by truck to their final, horrible, destinations.
There are Traffickers in the Addiction Rehab scene filling beds for a cut of the $$ and also marginally sober Bosses who make money trafficking guys in early recovery to work for peanuts on their painting and other contracting crews.
Selling opiates needs to be punished like murder. It's the only drug I've ever seen that even after you get off it you're still fucked up. It's like it takes you're soul
Sam Quinones’ excellent book “The Least of Us” not only dives into how/why fentanyl is cutting such a swath of destruction across this the country, but also shares examples of local programs that are successfully turning the tide on this menace. Definitely worth a read.
The major issue in homelessness is not the lack of housing. It's the refusal of society to say no. No, you can't camp in this city. No, you can't shit in the streets. No, you can't panhandle aggressively. No, you can't shoot up publicly and leave your used needles lying around. The fact that we are not going to allow you to destroy our city by doing these things is not our problem. It's your problem. You can solve your problem by not doing drugs, getting help for your mental problems, getting a job, and sharing rent with others so inclined until you can afford a place of your own, probably in a lower cost community.
This is not going to happen because the people we have elected allow the homeless to wallow in their victimhood rather than accept personal responsibility for their self destructiveness.
What specific steps should be taken by cities to deal with the problem? Cities should use all existing shelters and further provide simple shelter space with surplus military tents with mess and recreational tents, a medical tent and restroom and shower facilities (the way I lived in the army) on leased or purchased unused commercial or industrial sites on the outskirts of the city. As many who want to and are able to work should be hired to help feed others and to maintain the facilities. Individuals could use surplus military squad tents or their own for sleeping. When those facilities are available the city should send in crews to clean up existing encampments, without arresting anyone who does not physically resist.
Custodial care should be mandatory for those who are so mentally or drug addicted that they cannot care for themselves. We did a huge disservice to the mentally ill when we closed rather than reform our state mental hospitals. We need them back. This approach actually would cost far less and be far more effective than the current housing first attempts to fix the problem. Most of the homeless lack the capacity to live unassisted in modern society but that is not an excuse to destroy our beautiful cities and drive out our productive citizens.
> You can solve your problem by not doing drugs, getting help for your mental problems, getting a job, and sharing rent with others so inclined until you can afford a place of your own, probably in a lower cost community.
You make it sound like it's all so very easy. I still have yet to see an example of policy along those lines that actually worked. "No, sorry, we're just not going to allow you to be mentally ill, or addicted to drugs. Stop that now."
Problem solved?
I do agree with you somewhat on state mental hospitals, though just ask any citizen of the western world whether they feel it's ok to severely restrict someones personal freedoms when they aren't convicted of a heinous crime, I would hazard a guess as to the answer. There is a fine line here, and it's one that is extremely difficult to walk as a free society. I do believe mental health services should be way more generally available, worldwide, than they are today. It is rather shocking just how difficult in can be in most places to get care.
Lastly, the US really needs to catch up with those of us in the rest of the world and get a universal single-payer system. It's hard to expect people who are unemployed to be able to afford the healthcare they obviously need.
Nicholas: I don’t think it’s easy at all. In fact I think all drugs should be legalized. I don’t think open drug use should be permitted though. I laid out how I would make the problem tolerable for the rest of society though and it looks like even Gavin is moving in the direction that I suggested.
Wouldn’t sanctioned camping areas just expand the already destroyed woods? By allowing for “permitted” use, you are allowing and even endorsing the destruction of the local areas. Once these areas become uninhabitable, they will petition for more space, exacerbating the problem.
Clearly they can not self regulate and govern themselves to even clean up their unrestricted use of the woods. Why do you think if we “permitted” them to use the camps they would be any cleaner?
Finally a comment that sums this all up.. If 70-80% are addicted they are choosing. I don't know the answer but I do know if we continue to make these folks at home with no consequences they will keep being freeloading addicted bums!! Who exploit our systems and cost way to much to take care of..
Let me get this straight…they chose to live this way and in filth with their kids and you blame “the system” which tries to get them healthcare and assistance because it is too”controlling”?
Fuck all the way off- these people should lose those kids.
We should not be turning our forests into homeless encampments. Drug addiction can be a societal problem treated with compassion or a law enforcement problem with prison as the end result…sometimes it needs to be both. The “government” is trying to walk a line here and you are not helping.
I live in the area and totally agree. I had a lot of sympathy for the homeless during the pandemic but I’m over it. As the somewhat confused article states - this is a lifestyle choice by many of these people. The nonprofits are out there with portable shower units and trash dumpsters and there are avenues available for people who want out of the situation but many are happy living in “Dirt World “. East of Hwy 97 Which has turned into a “managed camping area.” The trash piles out in the woods near these camps is unreal. When it gets too bad they just move and leave it for someone else to clean up. Not to mention the fires, knifings, dog attacks etc. rant over.
My daughter works with homeless in another part of Oregon and I am not going to let someone just shit on her and the people who work with her efforts go unrecognized. She could earn far more doing something else, but chose to try to make a difference with a low budget outreach that saves lives.
I have a lot of respect for people involved in trying to help reduce homelessness via providing services, shelters, tiny home villages etc but I have lost patience with people who choose to live on and trash public land and then sit on street corners begging for $$.
Thanks for doing this work: it is ridiculous to think that others come up with such stats about drug use. It is part of the appeal, and part of the trap.
In my experience, having worked for Saint Vinnys, as well as having been a social worker, is that most likely 90% of these people are addicted to drugs and none of them want to live in a shelter. Also, I found that probably 99% of them are not from Oregon, they come from Chicago or Miami or Detroit, because the homeless Grapevine tells them there is lots of free stuff Here in Oregon. It is especially true in Eugene, where we live, the hobos are aggressive and act like they deserve what they get. This is why I tell my friends, don’t give cash to beggars on the street, because they’re only going to use it to buy drugs. We give them food and shelter and free showers, they don’t need cash, except to feed their fentanyl habit.. Back when I was a young liberal, I felt sorry for the homeless, but after 50 years of dealing with these violent drug addicted individuals, I’ve decided that they are not really worth the empathy that many liberals give them. The junkie hobos are dangerous, selfish, And would stab you with one of their knives in a heartbeat. That’s just the reality of folks who live on the street.
Great report. This is Pulitzer prize level work.
This set of issues may be worse in Bend, but it's typical of the Multnomah County approach where "homelessness" is a driver of employment for Homelessness Inc.™ and a way of building sprawling bureaucracies that take their own growth and clout first.
Keep up the brave, good work. Kevin is the only voice of realism and truth in our local desk-bound media.
Yes, this! I've long observed that the political authorities and authorized agencies/NGOs, are doing just enough to LOOK like they're "helping", but are actually perpetuating the problem. They are NOT SUPPOSED TO SOLVE "homelessness", but to keep it going. The destruction of large cities by allowing the homeless population and all the lawlessness and drug trafficking that goes along with it is INTENTIONAL, with orders coming from higher authorities. It's part of the controlled demolition of Amerika the Beautiful.
That and there is an idealogical aspect of it aswell. A lot of these orgs are filled with people that think that homelessness a direct effect a lack of socialism and/or that homelessness can be used as a political tool to push for more far left policy. So if you solve the homelessness problem to them that takes away reasons people could have to agree with them.
This is likely why they where so against kevin doing that fund raiser and why these people are against charity. They would rather people suffer that could be helped becuase they are willing to use human suffering as a political tool.
After over a year of direct homeless outreach (mostly in the Tucson area), I found very similar data. The leaders are much more realistic about the drug problem--probably because there isn't much livable forest area to hide the problem from the public compared to Bend. My effort began when I reached out to neighbors for assistance with one homeless man with a terrible wound on his leg, and it turned into a nationwide research and aid organization.
Kevin, I applaud your work. I know very well the emotional impact of working closely with folks who are in this position, and the helplessness you feel when you know the solutions simply aren't there. I'm hoping to make more connections on the federal level to help leaders around the country open their eyes to the real issues. Good work, my friend. Damn good work.
The NGOs lose their purpose if they actually do anything productive. I believe that they are intentionally making it worse in order to retain their sense of power and significance.
If the problem is actually addressed, the NGOs would lose funding, lose their position, and lose their sense of power.
It's not about helping those in need, it's about appearing to do so and parading their apparent moral superiority before the public while profiting.
I agree with you; I've seen what you see and see it all as a "controlled demolition" of America. The mayors of all the major west coast cities allow this to go on! I visited Portland, Oregon 7 years ago and couldn't believe the change from when I worked in the city 20 years prior. I was told by former co-workers how the mayor said the homeless are be treated with dignity and even allowed to camp on the sidewalks! Drug use and dealing was going on in front of me while police cars drove right on by! There was no fear of being caught; they know what's up. I took out my phone to take some photos and some lady started yelling at me to stop taking pictures, then chased me as I ran like hell all the way to the bus station! The city I remembered as being so clean was now looking like a garbage dump! This was not done by accident -- the same thing happening with the same policies in every major city across the country.
Wow - broad brush here…sure it’s all a plot…what sophomoric bs…
Show me one example of an NGO actually having an effective impact.
One city where the homeless situation has been positively impacted, that the issues are addressed.
No, cities where they force the homeless to move elsewhere don't count.
One example of actually reducing the homeless conditions.
You might as well ask someone to bring you an actual unicorn. The folks who pay "grant writers" to secure NGO grants for all manner of projects, get to pocket 50% or more of those grants for their "work". They hire some low-pay help to actually set foot among the needy, and then provide just enough financial support to maintain equilibrium. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Pretty much my point.
If they save one life or get one person into treatment or housing it is a success. I’m not going to do your research for you, because the examples are numerous if you discuss individuals. Homelessness response is not a zero sum game just because you can find examples where it doesn’t help everyone.
There is no “positive side” to homelessness and unless we start to actually commit mentally ill people they will continue to end up in jail or on the streets.
So, you presume that I haven't researched the subject, that I don't know what I speak of.
You present nothing to support your assertions.
Meanwhile my original comment reflects the contents and context of the Article in reference.
Hmmmm.
Here’s your research info for Bend- tell me all of this is shit because it doesn’t deal with your examples?
https://www.google.com/search?q=aupprt+for+hkmelss+in+bend+or&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS790US790&oq=aupprt+for+hkmelss+in+bend+or&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgcIAhAhGKsCMgcIAxAhGJ8FMgcIBBAhGJ8FMgcIBRAhGJ8FMgcIBhAhGJ8FMgcIBxAhGJ8FMgoICBAAGKIEGIkFMgoICRAAGIAEGKIE0gEIODIzMWowajSoAgKwAgHiAwQYASBf&hl=en-US&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8
Resolving a problem, requires first,
Addressing the cause.
Essential first aid, at best only stabilizes the injured for transport to a facility for care.
Essential first aid is not watching the drowning man drown while shouting advice or merely throwing flotation devices to the flailing panicked man.
I am speaking as an EMT,
I am also speaking as someone with law enforcement experience.
Decades worth of experience.
One life saved or in treatment is a success? Regardless of cost? Is it really possible to still be this clueless?
Firstly we should start commiting the mentally ill.
Seacondly its not that homelessness is overall positive but that the cost benefit analysis of homelessness to these people is better then going through the process of being a functioning memeber of society becuase they are junkies.
Mother Teresa syndrome
And you do the thing a losing debater always does and ignore my argument and stick to your “everything is shit unless it solves everything “ framing.
Is Bend doing better or worse than anywhere else ?
Are there people working to end this that are sincere and spending the funds allocated appropriately?
Address the individuals saved and tell them the efforts are not worth it…
Bend is objectively doing worse. I agree the generalizations minimize the efforts of those doing good work (like the author of this piece), but to deny that the overarching theme of ineffective, pseudo compassionate homeless outreach organizations are making things worse is furthering the stranglehold they have over the situation.
I do deny it. There is no “Big Homeless” money out there, the efforts - patchwork as they are, are sincere efforts and make incremental gains seasonally.
We need more money and laws that support institutionalization of the mentally ill to make a true dent here.
Speaking as a recovered alcoholic you need to provide some intervention to prevent self-harm or a hard bottom and then therapy and structure whether it be mandatory inpatient rehab, recovery meetings and a sponsor/sponsee relationship to achieve long term sobriety or mental health.
All of that makes sense and begins with outreach which provides necessities…
The approach I settled on was a network of online labor credit systems to value unpaid volunteer work redeemable at neighborhood coops, legal campgrounds and co-housing communities. The idea was that society is nearing the net energy cliff with a power grab through AI integration, typical "carrot and the stick" routines and the use of palatable narratives to reduce consumption leaving civil society prone to authoritarian governments (both left and right). We need a kind of legal alternative to provide food, shelter and skills-training as a fall back for losing everything to the technocratic neofeudal system. The portal would be a cross between Bright Neighbor Portland, Paul Glover's Ithaca Hours and Habitat for Humanity. I ran into some negative feedback from the Feds which required permanent recovery and tactical awareness/self-defense. Like the above posters shared there is a fair amount of institutional grift where sincere volunteers and innovators unfortunately get pushed out.
The homeless situation in all of the USA is a direct result of people intentionally ignoring the root causes of what has caused homelessness in the USA for the benefit of making it a multi-trillion dollar industry. Homelessness creates jobs, generates billions in funding for all cities and states that becomes available for fraud, and feeds other billion dollar industries such as the drug trade, human trafficking, and the child trafficking that provides pedophilia and satanic cults all over the world.
Homelessness in the USA wasn't always so big. 30-40 years ago it was almost non-existent compared to what we see now. If we ended homelessness, millions of government workers would be unemployed. That is why it will never be fixed ever.
30-40 years ago homelessness was practically non- existent to what it is now? Really? How old were you 30-40 years so? I was between 10-20 tears old, and I remember, in my town, the homeless problem being worse than it is now. And that was true for cities as well. So I don't know where you were living or where you got your info from.
What are the root causes?
Daniel Quinn's book "Ishmael" is a good primer.
Excellent piece.
I calculated once that if the city of San Francisco simply bought a house for every homeless person a decade ago they would have saved billions. I think most citizens are utterly unaware of much money is being spent to no effect.
The words used to be clear - vagrant, derelict
Homeless in your writing seems a heavy euphemism since they seem to all (in SF) have tents.
“Bum” sums it up.
In Paris we had “Clochard” - same lifestyle.
Before Reagan we used to have a functional mental health system- we need a massive effort and nobody seems to care. R’ keep throwing mental health as a the boogeyman, but offer zero support. There is always a “better” solution- we could end most poverty in the entire world if everyone could work together for a common cause, but go figure that everyone’s individual choices make that impossible.
Same thing here.
As the world has always been.
They would trash the houses and be back homeless shortly thereafter
Don’t be naive. These people are homeless for a reason. Irresponsible, addicted, mentally ill, unemployable.
Let's be fair and say that these people are homeless because they want to be, and nothing has a hold on them but whatever their current opiate might be. In some cases, real opiates. Acceptance of the fact that they want to be part of this life is step 1 to solving the problem.
I think you are severely underestimated the positive financial impact of NGOs employing thousands of potential girlfriends and wives in San Francisco. These make-work opportunities improve what would otherwise be a non-existent dating and romance arena and have significant knock-on effects to the restaurant and service industries.
I grew up homeless, in the desert in California, near Edward’s AFB. Like the children portrayed in this piece, I was born into that situation, to addicted parents.
My siblings and I FLED from social services every chance we got, and lied to keep them from hunting us down after they questioned us. It didn’t take long for us to notice any one of our friends who had been “rescued” by social services was (generally) never seen again. If we did, on rare occasion, run into them again, they were never better off.
Social services and NGOs traffick the children. As many children and very few pregnant women as you may see, many more are transported underground or by truck to their final, horrible, destinations.
Thank you for sharing your story
There are Traffickers in the Addiction Rehab scene filling beds for a cut of the $$ and also marginally sober Bosses who make money trafficking guys in early recovery to work for peanuts on their painting and other contracting crews.
Selling opiates needs to be punished like murder. It's the only drug I've ever seen that even after you get off it you're still fucked up. It's like it takes you're soul
Sam Quinones’ excellent book “The Least of Us” not only dives into how/why fentanyl is cutting such a swath of destruction across this the country, but also shares examples of local programs that are successfully turning the tide on this menace. Definitely worth a read.
The major issue in homelessness is not the lack of housing. It's the refusal of society to say no. No, you can't camp in this city. No, you can't shit in the streets. No, you can't panhandle aggressively. No, you can't shoot up publicly and leave your used needles lying around. The fact that we are not going to allow you to destroy our city by doing these things is not our problem. It's your problem. You can solve your problem by not doing drugs, getting help for your mental problems, getting a job, and sharing rent with others so inclined until you can afford a place of your own, probably in a lower cost community.
This is not going to happen because the people we have elected allow the homeless to wallow in their victimhood rather than accept personal responsibility for their self destructiveness.
What specific steps should be taken by cities to deal with the problem? Cities should use all existing shelters and further provide simple shelter space with surplus military tents with mess and recreational tents, a medical tent and restroom and shower facilities (the way I lived in the army) on leased or purchased unused commercial or industrial sites on the outskirts of the city. As many who want to and are able to work should be hired to help feed others and to maintain the facilities. Individuals could use surplus military squad tents or their own for sleeping. When those facilities are available the city should send in crews to clean up existing encampments, without arresting anyone who does not physically resist.
Custodial care should be mandatory for those who are so mentally or drug addicted that they cannot care for themselves. We did a huge disservice to the mentally ill when we closed rather than reform our state mental hospitals. We need them back. This approach actually would cost far less and be far more effective than the current housing first attempts to fix the problem. Most of the homeless lack the capacity to live unassisted in modern society but that is not an excuse to destroy our beautiful cities and drive out our productive citizens.
> You can solve your problem by not doing drugs, getting help for your mental problems, getting a job, and sharing rent with others so inclined until you can afford a place of your own, probably in a lower cost community.
You make it sound like it's all so very easy. I still have yet to see an example of policy along those lines that actually worked. "No, sorry, we're just not going to allow you to be mentally ill, or addicted to drugs. Stop that now."
Problem solved?
I do agree with you somewhat on state mental hospitals, though just ask any citizen of the western world whether they feel it's ok to severely restrict someones personal freedoms when they aren't convicted of a heinous crime, I would hazard a guess as to the answer. There is a fine line here, and it's one that is extremely difficult to walk as a free society. I do believe mental health services should be way more generally available, worldwide, than they are today. It is rather shocking just how difficult in can be in most places to get care.
Lastly, the US really needs to catch up with those of us in the rest of the world and get a universal single-payer system. It's hard to expect people who are unemployed to be able to afford the healthcare they obviously need.
If homelessness isn't caused by a lack of housing, why does the rate of homelessness rise as the median price of rent increases?
Nicholas: I don’t think it’s easy at all. In fact I think all drugs should be legalized. I don’t think open drug use should be permitted though. I laid out how I would make the problem tolerable for the rest of society though and it looks like even Gavin is moving in the direction that I suggested.
I agree on the open drug use thing, just the way you worded the statement made it come across perhaps differently than you intended.
Thank you for writing this. It seems dysfunctional all across the country and it not getting better.
Wouldn’t sanctioned camping areas just expand the already destroyed woods? By allowing for “permitted” use, you are allowing and even endorsing the destruction of the local areas. Once these areas become uninhabitable, they will petition for more space, exacerbating the problem.
Clearly they can not self regulate and govern themselves to even clean up their unrestricted use of the woods. Why do you think if we “permitted” them to use the camps they would be any cleaner?
It would. When you subsidize something, you get more of it.
Finally a comment that sums this all up.. If 70-80% are addicted they are choosing. I don't know the answer but I do know if we continue to make these folks at home with no consequences they will keep being freeloading addicted bums!! Who exploit our systems and cost way to much to take care of..
Exactly-
Thank you for this outstanding piece of journalism.
Let me get this straight…they chose to live this way and in filth with their kids and you blame “the system” which tries to get them healthcare and assistance because it is too”controlling”?
Fuck all the way off- these people should lose those kids.
We should not be turning our forests into homeless encampments. Drug addiction can be a societal problem treated with compassion or a law enforcement problem with prison as the end result…sometimes it needs to be both. The “government” is trying to walk a line here and you are not helping.
I live in the area and totally agree. I had a lot of sympathy for the homeless during the pandemic but I’m over it. As the somewhat confused article states - this is a lifestyle choice by many of these people. The nonprofits are out there with portable shower units and trash dumpsters and there are avenues available for people who want out of the situation but many are happy living in “Dirt World “. East of Hwy 97 Which has turned into a “managed camping area.” The trash piles out in the woods near these camps is unreal. When it gets too bad they just move and leave it for someone else to clean up. Not to mention the fires, knifings, dog attacks etc. rant over.
My daughter works with homeless in another part of Oregon and I am not going to let someone just shit on her and the people who work with her efforts go unrecognized. She could earn far more doing something else, but chose to try to make a difference with a low budget outreach that saves lives.
I have a lot of respect for people involved in trying to help reduce homelessness via providing services, shelters, tiny home villages etc but I have lost patience with people who choose to live on and trash public land and then sit on street corners begging for $$.
Thanks for doing this work: it is ridiculous to think that others come up with such stats about drug use. It is part of the appeal, and part of the trap.
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Government creates poverty and homelessness.
Fuck off
In my experience, having worked for Saint Vinnys, as well as having been a social worker, is that most likely 90% of these people are addicted to drugs and none of them want to live in a shelter. Also, I found that probably 99% of them are not from Oregon, they come from Chicago or Miami or Detroit, because the homeless Grapevine tells them there is lots of free stuff Here in Oregon. It is especially true in Eugene, where we live, the hobos are aggressive and act like they deserve what they get. This is why I tell my friends, don’t give cash to beggars on the street, because they’re only going to use it to buy drugs. We give them food and shelter and free showers, they don’t need cash, except to feed their fentanyl habit.. Back when I was a young liberal, I felt sorry for the homeless, but after 50 years of dealing with these violent drug addicted individuals, I’ve decided that they are not really worth the empathy that many liberals give them. The junkie hobos are dangerous, selfish, And would stab you with one of their knives in a heartbeat. That’s just the reality of folks who live on the street.