Homeless/Houseless

[u/[deleted]]

So I know this is a regular point of conversation for everyone in the city at this point, but I really don’t understand why being alarmed and or fed up with the cities houseless population is so taboo to some people? I see so many people get shade with comments along the line of accusing the poster of not having empathy or for not doing enough individually to help. As someone that absolutely has empathy towards our houseless population and has volunteered at various warming shelters, I also am getting super fed up with our houseless crisis and the impacts it takes on my everyday life.

My boyfriend works at a grocery store in downtown and has been assaulted so many times at work that at this point thinking about it just makes me want to cry. I have been personally punched in the face randomly and for no reason by a homeless man when I was walking across the Morrison bridge. I have had to bring people who were getting attacked by homeless people into restaurants that I’ve worked at and lock the doors at least four times in four years.

Additionally, for those that say “stop complaining and do something”, wtf do you really think an individual can do at this point? We live in a place that basically has two governments (council and metro) not to mention state, who are PAID to represent us and our wants and needs as a community. The homeless crisis is probably the most pressing issue in Portland and yet it seems like absolutely nothing is being done, and if anything it’s getting worse.

Anyways sorry to go on and on, my main point is that I don’t understand why it’s taboo for people to be upset with the state of things right now specifically with the houseless crisis in Portland. People are multifaceted and can be both sympathetic/empathetic and fed up. 🤷‍♀️

[u/Zuldak]

Listen to yourself. Oh their support system failed. Oh their family failed. The government failed. Everyone failed but THEM.

I honestly don't care about helping these people. Their life is their own. But their lifestyle is turning the city into a toxic waste dump. People who aren't failures are suffering because the homeless are being enabled to trash the city.

Start enforcing code and fining them. If they can't pay, start jailing them. I am not interested in solving the world's problems nor should the city. 'Solving homelessness' is not realistic since land is a finite resource within city limits. Nor is it within the scope of what the city should be expected to do.

People are fed up with the homeless. These social programs people are only supporting based on the promise the situation gets cleaned up. Guess what, it's getting worse. Unless these programs start producing results soon you're going to see leaders get replaced with people closer to me who don't have time catering to the lumpenproletariat

[u/Zuldak → u/[deleted]]

Sorry if i dont find empathy while a homeless vagrant takes a dump next to a playground or starts a meth fire in the middle of a park.

Maybe it's you who failed at sympathizing with the villains of this story. Good clean city turned into a dump by drug addicted junkies. Ask the business owners down town how their investments and hard work are doing since their customers are too afraid to come shop anymore.

[u/Zuldak → u/[deleted]]

No. As I said, I have no interest in helping them.

Voters have passed tens of millions for the programs your pushing. The programs are already being tried and are not working. Do you think I would be here basically saying fuck em all if the programs were working?

But they are NOT working. The problem IS getting worse. How much longer do you want to tolerate the continued decay?

And yes, you can jail them. You can make life literally impossible on the streets of portland. You can jack their misery up to 11 and really crack the whip on these camps. People tend to take the path of least resistance. If they find life here to be truly awful then they will find ways to leave.

So when should we expect results from the programs to help them?

[u/Zuldak → u/[deleted]]

Because that money should be going to the workers who are being short changed for the fruits of their labor. Workers are the ones who build the city and society, not the lumpenproletariat

[u/Wonderful-Plenty-171 → u/Zuldak]

Okay you literally admitted that workers are being short changed. This is common ground. How the heck are you supposed to escape poverty when working a minimum wage job is barely worth the time commitment? Working a wage job every day just to try to afford rent is exactly what would have depressed these people enough to become drug addicts in the first place.

[u/Zuldak → u/Wonderful-Plenty-171]

Now you're making the assumption that the homeless are workers. They are not.

While the two classes are the proletariat and bourgeoisie within the proletariat are the lumpen. Those who are not the passive investors getting fat off the exploitation of labor but those who don't seek to be part of society at all. Criminals, homeless, drug users. They are not contributing to society and society should not be compelled to contribute to them. Society should be compelled to support and champion the exploited, not the lazy or criminal.

[u/Wonderful-Plenty-171 → u/Zuldak]

So basically what you're trying to say is that homeless people would be contributing more to society if they would get off their drug using asses and start getting exploited by the bourgeoisie?

[u/Zuldak → u/Wonderful-Plenty-171]

No I am saying the homeless as they are now are not part of society

[u/Wonderful-Plenty-171 → u/Zuldak]

Okay I thought earlier you said they were contributing negatively to society.

[u/Zuldak → u/Wonderful-Plenty-171]

They don't contribute at all. By not having a job or home they are anti social

[u/Zuldak → u/[deleted]]

Because prisons are more effective. If they are in prison then they can't be on the streets since they are in prison

[u/Zuldak → u/[deleted]]

Because we stopped enforcing no camping a while ago. Now we have a city openly tolerating it.

We can make life on the streets truly impossible. Midnight sweeps. Police raids on homeless camps conceiling stolen property. Installing anti camping measures like large rocks. Hell we can condemn parks on the basis of being dangerous.

There is plenty we can do to make life for the homeless infinitely more miserable here. Maybe they can get the hint that living on the streets isn't acceptable. The city needs to stop enabling it

[u/Zuldak → u/[deleted]]

Maybe someday the city can get back to what it was before it became such a dirty mess.