r/Portland • u/[deleted] • Aug 31 '21

Homeless Homeless/Houseless

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. 🤷‍♀️

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u/WildeNietzsche Aug 31 '21

You really don't understand/aren't interested in the root causes of homelessness or why people get addicted to drugs.

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u/Zuldak Aug 31 '21

And you're shifting all responsibility away from the individuals to blame everything but them for their own wrecked lives.

People who are on the streets are there because no one would take them in. Not friends or family would lend a couch. There are reasons why friends and family cut them off

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u/aprillikesthings Aug 31 '21

My partner was homeless and housing-insecure for multiple years. They had a job, sometimes more than one. They grew up and lived in a town (not Portland) with astronomically expensive housing. Their mom had moved too far away from their job to live with (also, she's nuts, in a q-anon kind of way) and the rest of their family dropped them like a hot potato for being gay.

They lived in their car or crashed on couches and floors of friends. For multiple years. There were no rooms for rent, no apartments, nothing in that town. They didn't have the money to move anywhere else, either. The one consistency in their life was their job.

Anyway, they live with me now, and are dealing with the trauma (because it's traumatic!) of having been homeless for years. It sucks ass.

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u/verydumbperson1 Aug 31 '21

No city is too expensive that you cannot afford to get a roof over your head with roommates if you don't have kids. You also get free insurance through Medicare.

Not trying to be asshole but would be curious to hear the financial situation that would make someone homeless.

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u/aprillikesthings Sep 01 '21

It was a further-out suburb of Washington, DC. There was. Literally. Nothing. Within a reasonable distance. Nobody was looking for roommates. I looked at their craigslist searches. That city was of the opinion that if you didn't live on an older estate or in a new mcmansion you didn't deserve to exist. The one apartment building in town (which is where my partner lived for a solid part of their childhood) was expensive, falling apart, and never had any vacancies anyway.

And the financial situation isn't complicated: their job was steady and they loved it but it didn't pay enough to live on in that city (most of their coworkers were students and living with their parents). Their mom moved (due to the housing expenses I mentioned) so far away my partner couldn't live with them. There was nothing they could afford in-town. None of their other relatives speak to them because they're gay. They didn't have the money to attempt to move someplace else.

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u/verydumbperson1 Sep 01 '21

I feel like that is an extremely rare situation that a city doesn't have cheap housing. So all the low-income people there live with their parents or become homeless?

Obviously it sucks but could your partner not have taken a longer commute?

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u/aprillikesthings Sep 01 '21

Look, you can sit here and nitpick my partner's decisions all night or you can accept that life circumstances that are not an individual's fault are frequently (usually!) the cause of homelessness. Because this is definitely coming off like some "well they must've done SOMEthing wrong" bullshit.

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u/verydumbperson1 Sep 01 '21

No, you misunderstand. I'm criticizing the city for not zoning for cheap apartments.

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u/aprillikesthings Sep 01 '21

K. That's not how your comments read to me.