Why is Portland so infested with homeless? (Adams: to buy, camping)

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by aroseinrain

My question is, there's all this talk about making the homeless go "somewhere else" but nobody is willing to venture to say where exactly they should go.

Where is Homeless Town?

Dignity Village - About Us (http://www.dignityvillage.org/content/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemi d=31 - broken link)

http://news.opb.org/article/6274-dig...lace-call-home

[sendij1]

Originally Posted by TDNY

I drove up the coast from Santa Barbara to Portland last summer. Along the way I saw a large amount of transients hitchhiking and/or hitting you up for money when you stopped somewhere. They were virtually all somewhere in between hippies and vagrants, and almost all under 30.

This is a lifestyle on the West Coast. You don't see it in the east. It's one reason that so many cities on the West Coast have significant homeless populations.

That said, Portland will probably have a relatively high homeless population for many years, but it can take steps to make itself a less hospitable environment for homeless, so that they either don't want to stay, or don't want to come at all.

One way to do that it by requiring all homeless to sleep in a shelter. Shelters with strict rules about controlled substances and behavior. Yes, I know, there aren't enough beds, but you can bet your arm that if the cops went around telling all the homeless they see that they can either sleep in a shelter, get out of town, or go to jail, a large portion of the homeless population would go somewhere else. Better that than give up their dope.

Is it "kicking the can down the road?" Sure, but each local government can only do so much.

i have a simpler solution: shoot them. Yea, why put them in the shelter? save the effort, shoot them, then the problem solved.

[wetcement101]

I'm lurking from Chicago in preparation for a summer trip to PDX. Looks like the most inflammatory city-data posts are about homeless folks. In Memphis posts the hot topic is blacks, and Chicago posts is blacks and Jews, Denver it's about immigrating former Southern Californians. It appears everyone has a favorite scapegoat... sigh.

[Ryant]

We have Southern Californians here too..

[kanhawk]

Originally Posted by TDNY

This is a lifestyle on the West Coast. You don't see it in the east. It's one reason that so many cities on the West Coast have significant homeless populations.

I think there is some truth in that. Transients and drifters have always been attracted to the west probably going back 100 years or more. They may have been called different things at different times, but having lived in other parts of the country as well, I noticed them more when I moved here, even in smaller towns under 20,000. I very rarely ever saw homeless in small cities in other parts of the country. Not true out here.

[1208]

don't know if you people have ever been to the east or midwest, but there are lots of homeless there as well.

don't know why homeless people would bother anyone so much, if you don't want anything to do with them, ignore them. Thats what most people do anyways, even if it does make them look like spoiled children (seriously is it that hard to say, "no, sorry"?)

[aroseinrain]

I read a statistic today stating that Portland is the #2 city for homeless population in America. They didn't say who is #1.

[TDNY]

Number 2 in the number of homeless? Or voted second best place for homeless people?

[Ryant]

Yes, even they are picky on where they live : )

[Urbanlover85]

Well if you're gonna be homeless, Portland's certainly the place to do it.