Skip to main content
Help Center Community Shop

Comments

24 comments

Date Votes
  • mag00
    There's not enough free housing.
    0
  • grumpygy
    quote:Last month, Forbes magazine named Portland one of the best places in the country for business and careers. But few noticed. The public's attention has turned to those the economy has left behind -- people living on the streets, in cars, or in emergency shelters.

    The homeless crisis dominated state and local elections, and rival candidates found little common ground. They debated camping regulations, sit-lie ordinances, street clean ups, and the use of the Wapato jail as a shelter. Policy price tags ranged from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars. The Oregonian's Molly Harbarger rightly noted few issues are as complex or inspire as much passion.

    Away from the campaigns and news cycles, the Oregon Community Foundation asked our firm to evaluate the issue with the hope of creating a broader understanding on causes and possible solutions.

    Here's what the report found.

    The divisive political debate reflects the public's disagreement about the root causes of homelessness. Asked in an October 2017 survey whether homelessness and housing costs were linked, a narrow majority of Portlanders agreed. A sizable minority said personal traits, like drug addiction and mental health issues, were the key drivers.

    So, which is it? The cost of housing or personal traits? Or both?

    To answer these questions, we looked across the country to identify where homeless crises are most severe. And, the data couldn't be clearer. High-rent regions -- San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle and Portland -- lead the nation in homelessness. By contrast, rates are low across Appalachia, a center of the nation's opioid crisis and a so-called disability belt. If drug addiction and disability were the key drivers of homelessness, West Virginia and Arkansas' crises would rival ours. They don't come close.

    A dysfunctional housing market exacerbates Portland's crisis. The region built just seven housing units for every 10 new households during 2010-2016, and rents have risen accordingly. The tight market has pushed 56,000 households into a federally-defined "worst-case housing needs" category. These are very low-income households who spend more than half of their income on rent. Nearly all of them would qualify for federal rent assistance, but Congressional spending caps limit the program's reach.

    These worst-case needs households are a key source of episodic homelessness. On any given night, unforeseen crises -- job loss, eviction, domestic abuse -- tip some of these households into shelters or onto the streets. Most experience homelessness for months but not years. Regional officials counted about 4,300 episodically homeless individuals on one night last winter. As rents rise, so will the ranks of the episodically homeless.

    But on that same night, officials also counted about 1,700 chronically homeless individuals. They had been homeless for more than a year or experienced repeated spells over time. Many of these individuals encounter significant barriers to housing and employment: mental and physical disabilities, substance abuse issues, criminal records. Every community across the country, large and small, has people with severe challenges who will struggle to maintain to stable housing absent sustained support. Portland's challenge is not unique.

    So, the public's disagreement about the causes of homelessness is understandable. The region faces two homeless crises. One involves tens of thousands of severely rent-burdened households and the episodically homeless. The second involves a sizable, but more manageable, number of individuals with especially challenging personal circumstances.

    The two crises require different strategies and tactics. Where do we go from here?

    The region is on track in its fight against chronic homelessness. The widely-recognized solution is permanent supportive housing, which delivers housing and supports without time limits. Local officials set a goal of creating 2,000 of those types of units in the next decade, and the successful Metro affordable housing bond will help achieve the goal. Operational costs are high -- more than $20,000 per year -- so success requires rigorous, data-informed targeting of individuals with the most challenging personal circumstances. Do that, and chronic homelessness would steadily decline, freeing up needed shelter capacity.

    That's hard work.

    And it's just a start. Ending homelessness also requires fixing a dysfunctional housing market. Housing production must keep pace with household formation to keep rents in check. That requires a combination of accelerated permitting, pruned regulations, local politicians standing up to not-in-my-backyard activists, and state-level interventions with fiscal consequences for cities that fall short of their housing production goals.

    It also requires timely, effective implementation of the affordable housing bonds, revamped inclusionary zoning rules, and a smart deployment of local rent vouchers to supplement the undersized federal program. As for shelters, they are the break glass, only-when-all-else-fails policy of last resort. An overpriced housing market will overwhelm a well-intentioned, shelter-building effort.

    Fix the housing market, find permanent homes for individuals with the deepest needs, and the region will make progress on this crisis.




    https://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2018/11/opinion_addressing_portlands_t.html?fbclid=IwAR0-Bx5NIZ6O-d59sCUvh_kHp-nLD9ikrcY7ctQjU_ONX0OoHOA4eGGQMtE
    0
  • grumpygy
    Had to add a PS Bull, those that are homeless are the reason for the homeless.
    0
  • Sam06
    I would say 85% of homeless people are in that situation because they want to be or have made life choices that put them there.

    The other 15%, I don't know but there is really no reason to be homeless if you can work and hold a job.
    0
  • mag00
    They will need free drugs too.

    I find it comical that they need more money for the housing crisis, so they are going to tax homeowners. Go figure.
    0
  • SCOUT5
    quote:Originally posted by mag00
    They will need free drugs too.

    I find it comical that they need more money for the housing crisis, so they are going to tax homeowners. Go figure.


    Yep, the high cost of housing is driving up the homeless rate. So let's cure the problem by making housing more expensive.
    0
  • grumpygy
    Just asked them how these folks expected to rent when they are not working.

    Think that is going to fry a few brains.
    0
  • mag00
    quote:Originally posted by grumpygy
    Just asked them how these folks expected to rent when they are not working.

    Think that is going to fry a few brains.


    Silly you, Guaranteed income of $50k a year whether you work or not.
    0
  • yoshmyster
    The thing I don't get is that all these people with jobs that live out in their cars in California. Yes I know most places will "accommodate" these urban campers. I've seen shows like "Vice" where some of the employees living in their cars while they work for places like Disneyland I don't get. Since Disneyland ain't exactly the greatest place to work go somewhere else.

    These people in the "service" industries can get that job anywhere. Yet they choose to bitch and live in their cars in So-Cal. Like career burger flippers that wants $15 an hour pay. These are "summer" or "first" jobs. They are not a "gold watch" jobbie jobs.

    Now working at places like google where the pay is good and the bennies are bitching. Then you choose to live in their parking lot in a renovated U-Haul. Since the "campus" provides everything I get that. Sock the fat pay and living in a clapped out camper for a few years and pay cash for your house.

    As for homeless everywhere. People who do not own property should not vote on these matters. They bitch about not being able to find or get low rent places shouldn't try to live in San Francisco. Also I reckon these morons are okay with "asylum" seekers where they're in direct competition for low rent places.
    0
  • bobski
    im a landlord.
    I screen people and found that most cant afford housing because they feel the cost of smoking, dog food, smart phone, drugs, and having kids out of wedlock is more important than holding a good job first, then getting a home, then striving to have things.
    nope....they want their stuff first, and make the landlords out to be the bad guys for not letting them have a cheap rent with whatevers left over in their pockets AFTER their expenses.

    homeless are homeless because they got their priorities mixed up and don't have long lasting friends to help them in need.
    imagine that?
    no long lasting friends?
    that's what cyber relations and transient lifestyles get ya. squat.

    this isn't nothing new....in the old days they were called hobo's.
    0
  • nmyers
    I think that anyone who receives any type of welfare should be required to be spayed or neutered.

    Neal
    0
  • Sam06
    quote:Originally posted by nmyers
    I think that anyone who receives any type of welfare should be required to be spayed or neutered.

    Neal


    +1
    0
  • droptop
    Thought it wasn't cold enough to make them leave or conversely warm enough to attract 1000's.
    0
  • spasmcreek
    oh yeah and our great society who wasted billions on apartment housing for minorities only short years later to tear them down because they were trashed into junk by their subsidized tenants...Canada built individual housing for the native Canadians adn said come on in ...in a year they were totally junk...natives got their freebies checks and stayed drunk till the money ran out before the next check was due...and few became guides to fishermen and hunters to have some booze money till the next check..my dad saw this on his annual canadian fishing trip....you give FREEBIES , you make BUMS......we need a WORK or GO HUNGRY program for many on the dole or change will NEVER happen
    0
  • grumpygy
    quote:Originally posted by bobski
    im a landlord.
    I screen people and found that most cant afford housing because they feel the cost of smoking, dog food, smart phone, drugs, and having kids out of wedlock is more important than holding a good job first, then getting a home, then striving to have things.
    nope....they want their stuff first, and make the landlords out to be the bad guys for not letting them have a cheap rent with whatevers left over in their pockets AFTER their expenses.

    homeless are homeless because they got their priorities mixed up and don't have long lasting friends to help them in need.
    imagine that?
    no long lasting friends?
    that's what cyber relations and transient lifestyles get ya. squat.

    this isn't nothing new....in the old days they were called hobo's.


    With the Cost of smokes if I still did I would have to live on the street too.

    They just hit me with they can't get job cause they have no where to sleep. Give me a break we have several organizations in this are that not only will give them a place to sleep and shower but facilities to get their cloths clean. But you have to follow rules and they do not want to do that. That alone would make them unemployable.
    0
  • allen griggs
    I live near Asheville NC. Asheville is Liberal Land to the max.
    They celebrate homelessness here. There is a very popular local weekly newspaper called Mountain Express.
    Several years ago they had a cover story on Homeless Guy of the Year.

    A 52 year old man, he had had a nice house with a mortgage, a wife and two kids, worked as a contractor. A year earlier, he said "To hell with it" and he just checked out. For a year this guy had been living under the French Broad River bridge. Eating lunch at a soup kitchen.

    They went on and on about this guy, like he was the quarterback who just won the Super Bowl. All the hassles and headaches of mortgage notes, of paying insurance, of showing up for a job every day, this guy had none of those worries! Wonderful!

    Let me tell you, I moved out to Washington State to live with my cousin in 1977, we were going to start a log cabin building business.
    Dave lived out in the woods, no electricity or plumbing, had an out house.
    I lived out there for 7 months and we did build one little log cabin.
    But, living in the cold and damp, having to take a crap in a stinking outhouse, no shower! To make a cup of coffee took an hour and a half, had to light up the wood stove and go get a pot of water from the spring.

    NO THANKS! I stayed 7 months just because I had committed to build that log cabin. We finished that house and I got the hell out of there. Good Lord, to glamorize living under a bridge and crapping in the bushes and going weeks or months without a shower, being unable to wash your clothes. It is not glamourous it is stinking nasty and dirty. Disgusting.
    0
  • grumpygy
    quote:Until they are held responsible for their action they will run all over the city of Eugene. What have these folks done to get out of their situation.. That's what the news should be reporting.


    Sean Baker David Nelson ignorant...

    David Nelson
    David Nelson What have they done.

    This is the type of comments I get.

    Or.

    quote:I'd love to ship all the bigots, gun nuts and white supremacists off to *somewhere else*! Anybody have any good suggestions?
    0
  • WearyTraveler
    While it's not true for all cases, people do tend to want the" niceties" - they rate these as equal to housing and bill paying. Their priorities are off kilter.
    I'm retired and I still make sure that the requirements are paid for before I buy new "toys"
    0
  • mnrivrat48
    No mention of the 15 or 20 million illegals being among the homeless. Most of them find a place to live.

    Lots of reasons for the homeless and mostly the core cause is the way our government has been run. Free stuff for everybody . As president Johnson was quoted as saying " I will have them _____ voting democratic for a 100 years with these programs"


    A little need for the return of the CCC's along with other changes is in order. Subsidize business, subsidize farmers, subsidize , illegals, subsidize the lazy, subsidize the whole f - n world , and then ask stupid questions like why do we have homeless. You need to of course put more money into subsidizing them.

    Our country is being taken over by communists - that's why !
    0
  • slumlord44
    I'm also a landlord. My rentals are mostly on the low end. $420 to $650 a month for oler mobile homes on private lots. The ones that are willing to work manage to pay the rent and stay for a long time. The ones with poor work habits and other bad habbits I have to evict for non payment. Now there is a group pushing for a law in California and nation wide to provide a free attorney for anyone being evicted at taxpayers expense. Total bull poop. You pay you stay. Now my taxes will be used to jack up the cost of me doing buisness. No free lawyer for me when an eviction costs me a minimum of 2 months lost rent plus legal and court costs. I don't have to use a lawer now to do an eviction. If the tennant gets a free lawyer I will need to pay for a lawyer to get the guy out. My costs go up. Rents will go up. More landlords will get out of the business and less avaliable housing. They never look at the long term effects of the stupi laws they pass.








































































    4
    0
  • nemesisenforcer
    It's Bush's fault
    0
  • jerrywh818
    One reason there are so many homeless in Portland is the Oregon Government invites them here with feebies. Another reason is drugs. You can sit in Portland at an intersection and watch then dealing any time.
    I live on the east side of the state and there are signs up all the time wanting help. When I ask why they don't have any employees that tell me they can't find people who can pass the drug test. The tire shop has one guy changing tires and people lined up for service. Same reason. The Democrat party loves it. They voted Brown back in despite all the problems and the legislative branch has 2/3 majority of Democrats. Do you think it will get any better? NOT A CHANCE. With all those dependence the DEMOCRATS love it. They passed a law preventing the landlords from raising the rent. SO who wants to be a landlord? Drug renters will burn your house down.
    0
  • droptop
    One reason is Bill Gates has abandoned the Northwest portion of the United States and is spending heavily in Africa.

    Five years ago Gates committed 5 billion dollars over a five year period to help all the unfortunate Africans to live a better lifein Africa. The money has been spent and I'd assume the Africans are in tall cotton, so to speak, while the poor in the U.S. are suffering mighty.
    https://www.nelsonmandela.org/news/entry/gates-foundation-to-spend-5-billion-in-africa-over-next-five-years

    Bill and Melinda Gates to pay off Nigeria?s $76 million polio debt.
    Are the Gates Evil, so evil they take the food out of homeless months in Washington,, not to mention no shelter to protect them against the bitter winter cold.

    Where is Bill Gates? Not in the U.S. helping the deserving poor, NO,,, he's Squandering money where cold isn't a problem, while ignoring shelter for the poor in his own backyard. cold01.gif
    0
  • mag00
    quote:Originally posted by droptop
    One reason is Bill Gates has abandoned the Northwest portion of the United States and is spending heavily in Africa.

    Five years ago Gates committed 5 billion dollars over a five year period to help all the unfortunate Africans to live a better lifein Africa. The money has been spent and I'd assume the Africans are in tall cotton, so to speak, while the poor in the U.S. are suffering mighty.
    https://www.nelsonmandela.org/news/entry/gates-foundation-to-spend-5-billion-in-africa-over-next-five-years

    Bill and Melinda Gates to pay off Nigeria?s $76 million polio debt.
    Are the Gates Evil, so evil they take the food out of homeless months in Washington,, not to mention no shelter to protect them against the bitter winter cold.

    Where is Bill Gates? Not in the U.S. helping the deserving poor, NO,,, he's Squandering money where cold isn't a problem, while ignoring shelter for the poor in his own backyard. cold01.gif


    And the other reason is that is where the new plantation is. No laws interfering [}:)]
    0

Please sign in to leave a comment.

Recent Activity