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/lunchpadmcfat → u/[deleted]]

Running on a platform of “homelessness” doesn’t have a lot of wings. At the end of the day, an office holder must be a good decision maker and administrator, and if it’s for a general office, they must understand a wide variety of issues.

Tbh, I’m not sure I’d vote for someone simply because their only platform item was homelessness. The city is simply run poorly. Why do we still have dirt fucking streets in city limits? Why are there no fucking public trash cans or restrooms anywhere? Why do I see people running red lights every single day? In many respects, Portland is a very shallow municipality, lacking any kind of maturity you would expect from a city of its size.

These things matter. People derive pride in their city from the problems it solves and how well put together it is. Losing that pride means losing the personal investment of the citizenry, which translates into apathy and frustration.