Liability. These areas are suited for people to live on. No basic services like power and water. That means burning anything they can find and leaving shit and piss everywhere. If you're talking about moving them from the Right To Dream Too spot that land has been sold and will be developed. A lot of homeless people commit crimes. There was just a lady on the news who lives by 205, homeless came up to her house and ripped her storm door out of the frame. They turned into into a very nice BBQ grate over a fire. Homeless are on DOT land. DOT can't evict people, PPD can't really do much because DOT doesn't file criminal trespassing complaints. (No @MarAzul, you can't legally shoot people taking things off of your house, only if they enter.)
Don't get me started! Toasters are cheap but fuck buy a new one first. Cross the bridge when you come to it.
That could very well be the case. To rent an apartment for a homeless person would be what 700 for a studio in Portland, then give them a social worker which is another probably 1000 a month, that seems like a lot but I bet when you add up all the cost of cleanup, calls to police, everything else that I cant' think of that goes into having homeless in a city that it would be cheaper.
Majority of the homeless I see are just lazy drug addict bastards making Portland look more & more like a shit hole every day. It's a choice for them. It's not that hard to get a basic job so you can at least afford a small apartment (and even easier if you get roommates).
I've read a lot of shitty takes on this website, but this might take the cake as the worst. My only hope is that you meant to put the above in green font but forgot. I walk by tons of homeless each and every day to and from work and I couldn't disagree more with what you've stated. Unless you take the time to stop and talk to these people and get their story, there's absolutely no way you can or should make this type of assessment.
A lot of people feel better if, in their mind, anyone (or most people) in shitty circumstances deserved them. It's uncomfortable to think that some people are dealt terrible hands, sometimes unrecoverable ones, through no fault of their own.
A lot of those people you think are drug addicts are actually mentally ill. If you're a leach and just want handouts to pay for your drug addiction, I agree with you. I'd say mental illness makes up a larger part of the street folks. Its a real problem.
Mental illness is a big problem. Why such a rise in it over the years? Mental illness way up. Obesity/diabetes way up. Treating either of these doesn't actually solve anything. What is the problem causing them?
Ive often wondered. and I have no clue or data to support anything, just pure assumptions, but. Could it be the market causes medical research to be driven primarily by those who have the funds to support the research? Example: Billionaire old fart cant get it up and thus pays millions and millions for erectile dysfunction research, rather than studies going towards truly life altering/killing illnesses? It's all about the dollar right? If you don't have the funds to support the research to find a cure for your illness then you are pretty much fucked unless it becomes an epidemic, right? That's why certain organ transplants costs tens of thousands of dollars and have long waiting lists? The same holds true for mental illness. Most families don't have the funds to invest in research to cure their family member ailing of a mental issue. Then you have instant media and world events constantly bombarding you day to day . Life is more complicated today and some people cant handle that.
I think part of it (speaking about obesity/diabetes) is personal responsibility and discipline. I'm sure I'll take a lot of flak but anecdotally and from Doctors who are clients, so many people just don't make (or want to make) good decisions for their long term health. Instead of lean meat, vegetables etc, it is processed food and what is easy and they feel tastes good versus what is actually good for them. Food is fuel for the body yet so many people treat it as an entertainment. No one would put such crap in their car's gas tank but will pour absolute trash into their own tank.
So enlighten us then. What have you found in your "walk by" research to suggest BoBo's take is so outrageous? Been several posts on here about folks being homeless themselves at one time, I talk to them all the time, you have no idea, etc with no info to back it up. Those who have been homeless. How'd you get there? How'd you get out? Honestly.
Homeless is different in each country. My mom has done a lot of volunteer/missionary work over seas where their version of homeless/poor would make many of those in this country look rich by comparison. That is not to take away or belittle those who have a seriously bad situation of which they can't do nothing about that they didn't have something to do with in the first place due to decisions they made that brought certain consequences about. It's just quite a difference from the stories mom and her group has shared from their experiences. Serious destitution.
